Big Time Sequel: Little Family
by RomioneAlways51
Summary: Sequel to Big Time Change. Lacey's back from the hospital, to the excitement and delight of her parents. Follow Kendall and Jo as they ride the roller coaster of parenthood and the joys of building up their little family. Lomille, Jendall, Jucy James/Lucy and Carphanie Carlos/Stephanie K just to be safe
1. Chapter 1: Please sleep for me

******A/N: Here it is! The first chapter of the sequel! It's not really that fantastic I'm afraid, or long, but I really wanted to get started :) please review even if it sucks**

**Chapter 1: "Please sleep for me"**

The novelty of Lacey wore off after a couple of weeks, and it wasn't long before waking up to her cries was a tiresome chore.

This evening, Lacey awoke at 4am and Kendall groaned, running his eyes and sitting up,

"9 hours," he remarked sleepily, getting up. "that's a record," he made his way over to Lacey's crib, bending down to pick up the screaming little girl and rocking her in his arms. "Lacey," he hushed as she continued to cry "Little Miss Lacey, Lacey Marie, my baby girl, please sleep for me, my little miracle," he made 'Shh' noises to try and calm her down, but she continued to cry.

"My darling," Kendall sighed. "What if I tell you a story, will that make you better?" Lacey continued to scream as Kendall brought her over to the couch, sitting down and stroking her forehead as he tried to think of a story.

"Oh, here we go; once upon a time, there were four boys, and they were hockey players-" Lacey continued to cry, and Kendall hugged her to his chest "OK, no story," he said "what about a song, huh?" he cleared his throat "This song reminds me of your momma," he smiled

"I bet you didn't notice, first time your heart was broken, you called me up and we talked till the mornin," he sang, and Lacey's cries softened "And the time that you were stranded, I was here before you landed, they were all missing but I was here listenin," Kendall looked down to see that Lacey had fallen asleep in his arms, her head resting on his chest.

"Pfft," Kendall scoffed, smiling "didn't even make it to the chorus," Jo appeared at his side, putting a hand on his arm and gazing at a sleeping Lacey.

"You're really good with her," Jo whispered.

"Thanks," Kendall replied, smiling "next time, it's your turn,"

**A/N: Once again, my apologies for a shpry and shitty chapter excuse my french, but the alliteration was cool :P) please review what may be the start of a satisfactory sequel? ;)**


	2. Chapter 2: James vs Lacey

**A/N: Hey there, so again this is a short chapter, I know, and I left it at a cliffhanger :) but I'll update this afternoon I promise, after I get back from school.**

**REVIEWS:**

**Thanks guys for your awesome reviews and feedback on the end of Big Time Change and the start of Little Family, it means a heap that you like my work, and I know I say that all the time but I really mean it :)**

**Chapter 2: James vs Lacey**

Lacey awoke again at 5.30, and James was the first to hear it; everyone in apartment 2J plus the girls had all been assigned to baby watch and were all accustomed to helping out as much as they could. James pulled himself out of bed and trudged across into Kendall and Jo's room. Lacey was lying flat on her back, thrashing her little fists about and crying, it was a wonder that Kendall and Jo didn't hear her. He reached down into the crib and picked up a squirming Lacey,

"Hey, you," he said gently "you're. Meant. To. Be. Asleep!" he grunted as he fought to keep the baby in his arms, and 'shh'-ing her so she didn't wake her parents. "Ok," he huffed when he finally got Lacey to be still "now, how do we get you to sleep?" Lacey continued to cry and James sighed, "Um, are you hungry?" he went to the fridge and got her a bottle and heated it up in the microwave.

"Here, Lacey," he cooed, putting the bottle to the little girl's lips, but she continued to cry, shaking her head away from the bottle. "Lacey!" James snapped, trying to keep from losing his temper "drink, honey, you'll feel better," Lacey kept refusing the bottle until James gave up and slammed the bottle on the counter.

"What else? Ooh! How about a diaper change?" James asked, laying the baby down on her changing table near the desk, beside the swirly slide. James took a deep breath, slipping Lacey's nightdress over her head and taking the diaper off, looking down at what seemed to be nothing. James didn't really know what he was looking for, however, so he just assumed she'd done..._something_.

He deposited the dirty diaper into the bin and grabbed a clean one, and aimed to place it underneath Lacey, who, by the age of 1 and a half months, had learned to kick, and was kicking James' hands as he tried to put the diaper on her. She also had stopped crying, and was now laughing as James tried to put the baby powder on her and, by some cruel failure, had managed to get it all over his own face.

"You think that's funny, huh?" James asked, and Lacey continued to giggle "Oh, well, guess it's better than screaming," he relented, flicking some of the baby powder into the air as Lacey giggled, and it became a tiny sneeze. James chuckled as Lacey began to let out little coughs, but suddenly she wasn't coughing any more, she was gagging and gasping.

James' heart constricted his chest, and he was gasping for air himself; this had never happened while he was on baby watch before! What was wrong with her? James' breathing sped up until he was gasping and coughing just as Lacey was.

"Oh my God!" James cried "What do I do?" he couldn't wake Kendall or Jo, they were actually getting some sleep for a change. James picked up Lacey, butt naked, and held her against him, rubbing her back uselessly as she continued to cough and splutter.

He set Lacey down on her change table, and began to pace, trying to keep his own breathing at a normal rate; the worst thing he could do right now was panic, but he was panicking! He forced himself to think as he continued to walk back and forward; who should he call?Who would know best? He could wake Mama Knight, but she'd had just as little sleep as Jo and Kendall had. James pulled out his phone and dialed the first number that popped into his head; Camille.

He put the phone to his ear and prayed to God that she had her phone on.

**A/N: Again, my apologies for the short chapter, I'll have the second part for you by tonight :)**


	3. Chapter 3: Camille To The Rescue

**A/N: Part 2 of my double update, I really hope you guys forgive me for my terrible chapters :) The next one involves Katie, soI hopefully it won't suck :)**

**Disclaimer: Only own Little Miss Lacey :P**

**Chapter 3: Camille To The Rescue**

James held the phone to his war, pacing in front of Lacey's change table.

"Come _on_!" he groaned as she the phone rang for what felt like an eternity "Answer your phone, woman!"

"What do you want Jo?" Camilld asked sleepily.

"Uh, it's James," James replied, confused; who's _phone_ did he grab? "and I'm sorry for wakin' you, but it's Lacey-" Camille didn't need to hear anymore, she shut her phone and grabbed her jacket, tossing her phone on the couch as she shut the door behind her.

Camille arrived a few minutes later, throwing the door open and striding up to James, who was standing by Lacey's crib, trying to breathe normally.

"Thank God, Camille! It's Lacey, she isn't breathing properly, and-"

"Move!" Camille demanded, shoving James aside and leaning over the crib to examine Lacey before looking up at James "Now, what happened?"

"First, she was laughing, and then she started coughing, and then-" James watched as Lacey continued to gasp and sputter "she started doing that! What do we do?"

"She's having an asthma attack," Camille decided, her voice miraculously calm "We just gotta find her inhaler,"

"OK, well, uh, where is it?" James asked, looking around the messy apartment.

"I don't _know_!" Camille hissed "This is your apartment, not mine!" James fell to his knees beside the change table, rummaging in Lacey's diaper bag and retrieving the pale blue plastic device. He handed it to Camille, who picked up Lacey and put the device in the tiny girl's mouth, pushing the button. James finally relaxed as he saw that Lacey's breathing had gone back to normal, and she was back to her whimpering. Camille scooped her up and handed her to James, who held her close to him.

"Thank _God_ for that!" James sighed, clutching the little girl to his chest. "Thanks, Camille,"

"Anytime, James," Camille smiled.

"She really scared you, huh?"

"So much," James sighed, hugging Lacey to him again.

"That's good," Camille smiled "really good, Kendall will be glad you care so much about his baby,"

"Thanks," James blushed, which was rare "I think we'll be OK, now, you should probably get a bit more sleep,"

"Alright," Camille hugged James and kissed Lacey's forehead.

"Night, James,"

"Night Camille," James smiled again "and thanks again,"

"Anytime," Camille smiled as she closed the door behind her, and James put Lacey back in her crib, where she fell almost instantly into a restful and steady sleep

**A/N: Short I know, I'm sorry :(**


	4. Chapter 4: Jealous?

**A/N: Hey, guys, sorry for the long wait, this one took me forever to write for some reason :/ But anyway, here it is, hopefully it's a but longer than the other ones. Question: does this story feel like it's not following a plot, like it's just a bunch ram random chapters, because I think it is :) Also: I realized that now they are all 19 years of age, turning 20, because they all turned 19 at some stage during Jo's pregnancy or afterwards, with the exception of Lucy, who would've turned 20, so yeah. Also, it's Carlos' birthday today! He turns 23! They're growing up :'( **

**REVIEWS: **

**Thank so much guys for your positive feedback, and for your 100 reviews on Big Time Change, that means so much to me! (love heart)**

**PinkPrincess 777: You're very welcome, I'm so glad you like my work :)**

**Chapter 4: Jealous? **

"She doesn't do much, does she?" Katie said, staring glumly at baby Lacey, who was lying on her stomach, looking around the room. She was 6 months old now, so she was a bit more alert, but she couldn't do anything big, and Katie, like Carlos, was getting bored with just watching her lie on her pink patchwork blanket. The guys were at rehearsal, and Mrs Knight was out shopping, so Katie was left alone in the apartment with Jo and Lacey.

"Well, she _is_ a baby," Jo replied, looking up from her magazine.

"So?" Katie asked "You'd figure she'd be able to do something besides blow spit bubbles,"

"Oh, come on, Katie," Jo said, putting aside her magazine and sitting on the floor beside Lacey "she can do loads of things," Jo cooed, putting out her finger out towards Lacey, who grasped it in her tiny hands, gripping with all her might.

"See? Look, Katie!" Jo looked over at Katie, who was reading Jo's magazine and taking absolutely no notice of Lacey,

"That's OK," Jo said in a baby voice, turning back to Lacey "you show mommy how strong you are, yeah!" she gasped as Lacey gripped her finger "You're gonna be stronger than your daddy, yeah you are! Maybe stronger than Uncle James!"

Katie scoffed and went back to the magazine; all that baby did was lie there and grab people's fingers, and everyone thought it was the greatest thing in the world! It would blow a bubble with its own saliva and everyone was all over it! Was Katie jealous? No, she couldn't be! She was _not_ jealous of a 6 month old baby, let alone her own niece!

"Why don't you spend some with her?" Jo suggested, getting up heading towards the kitchen to make a pot of tea "You want anything?" Katie shook her head and put aside the magazine, sinking down onto the floor beside Lacey,

"OK, so what else can you do besides grab fingers?" Katie asked as Lacey reached out for Katie's hand and missed. "You are useless!" she told the baby as Lacey lay back onto her stomach.

Suddenly, Lacey put her little hands on the ground, and began to push it, "What are you doing?" Kate asked "You can't move the ground!" but Lacey continued to push, kicking her little legs as well, and suddenly she had rolled onto her back and was looking around her, evidently confused and shocked at what she had done .

"Whoa!" Kate exclaimed, a sudden excitement rushing through her "Look what you did! What a clever girl you are!" she knew that rolling onto your back was pretty basic for people her age, but for a baby that wasn't even a year old, it was quite a feat, and Katie couldn't help but be excited.

"Are you a clever girl?" she asked Lacey, who was still on her back, and was watching Katie upside down, her head cocked to the side. "Yeah, you are!" Katie found herself talking in the same stupid baby voice that Jo had used with Lacey, but she didn't care, she loved the way Lacey's eyes lit up whenever she used the voice, she loved the way Lacey kicked her little legs whenever Katie smiled at her and laughed. Katie decided that from now on, it was going to be her goal to make the baby laugh, but first she had to tell Jo about Lacey's discovery.

"Jo!" Katie called out "Come here quick!"

"What is it? What's wrong?" Jo was in a panic, she put down her mug harder than she meant to, chipping the bottom of it, and dashed from the kitchen. Katie giggled at her state,

"Nothing's wrong, but look what Lacey did!" Jo sat beside Katie and smiled at Lacey who was still lying on her back, looking extremely proud of her little feat.

"Aw! What a clever girl you are!" Jo smiled, picking her up and grabbing her neglected rattle from the mat.

"Uh," Katie butted in awkwardly "can I do it?" Jo gasped as proud tears began to leak from her eyes,

"Of course, Katie!" she breathed, placing Lacey on Katie's lap and handing her the rattle, watching proudly as Katie shook the rattle for Lacey, who was trying to grab it and giggling.

**A/N: There you guys go :) did you like this chapter? I could've done a heap more with it but I think I had writers block :( is there anything you guys like to see happen, besises the obvious things like her first steps etc. I'm running put of things to write about without skipping too far a head in time. Reviews and suggestions would really be appreciated :) **


	5. Chapter 5: Lacey's Lullaby

**A/N: Hey there lovely people! I have a new chapter for you all and I hope you like it :)It's Thursday here, and I'm counting down till Sunday, and BIG TIME MOVIE! :D**

**REVIEW:**

**Thanks so much for your feedback, I promise I'll do shout out's next chapter :)**

**Chapter 5: Lacey's Lullaby**

Katie had started to help with Lacey a lot more now, Kendall supposed that it was because of that girls day in she'd had with Jo a couple of weeks ago, and Kendall couldn't help it, but he felt like everyone in the house got to spend more time with his baby than he did. Kendall was sitting alone in his room, his guitar perched on his knee, and strumming quietly; Gustavo had asked that he come up with a guitar line for the new song he'd written: Cover Girl, but Kendall couldn't come up with anything.

He paused in his random strumming and heard a faint crying: Lacey must have been giving her mother trouble again. Usually she was pretty quiet and hardly cried, as long as the right person was taking care of her; if she was hungry, Jo was the only one who could feed her, Logan could dress her and change her diaper (much to his disgust), James could make her laugh if she was fussy, Katie could get her to play with her, and Carlos was the one who could bathe her without soaking the entire bathroom, and Kendall felt useless. There was nothing he could to for Lacey; every time she was in his arms, she would just scream and writhe until he gave her to someone else. Even at almost a year old, she still didn't recognize her father, and he would just scream until her beloved mother rescued her.

"She's just a mommy's girl," Jo would say when Kendall confessed this to her.

"But what about the others? She loves them, too!" Kendall complained.

"She loves you, too, Kendall, she just doesn't know it," Jo had reassured him, and Kendall knew she was right; Lacey was only a baby, she was just recognizing smiles and voices, and it didn't help that every time Kendall saw her, he teared up. He sighed, forgetting about Lacey and trying to focus on the song, but the crying became louder, and Kendall looked up to see that Jo had brought Lacey in to see him.

"She won't sleep," Jo explained, bouncing Lacey in her arms as the baby cried "can you try to calm her down?" Kendall shrugged, setting aside his guitar,

"I'll give it a shot," he held out his arms for Lacey as Jo breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hey, baby," Kendall smiled down at her as she sobbed, beating her little fists as she bawled. "Shh, my little miracle, it's bed time for you, you gotta sleep. Please, for your daddy?"

Lacey seemed to show no signs of listening to Kendall, and he sighed, "Well, if you're not gonna sleep, then just cry quietly," he said, setting her in her crib and picking up his guitar "Daddy's gotta work," Lacey continued to scream as Kendall strummed, and he couldn't keep his focus, he had to stop her crying, he couldn't stand to see his little miracle crying like this. Kendall tried one more time to come up with a melody as he picked up the lyric sheet, and Lacey continued to cry.

"Aw, come on, baby girl, please smile for me," Kendall looked down at the lyrics sheet in his hands "And when I see your face, I try a thousand ways," Kendall sang, strumming his guitar and watching as Lacey's screams slowly died down into sobs, and then into whimpers "I would do anything to make you smile," he continued to strum, and he smiled as Lacey's eyes began to droop, and she gave an almighty yawn as she curled up in her crib and fell asleep, and Kendall continued to strum, relaxed, as he watched his daughter sleep; he'd come up with the perfect melody for Cover Girl, and he wasn't a useless father after all.

**A/N: Longer? Probably not. Cute? Not really. Do I like this chapter? no! Will I try harder next time? You bet I will! Do I apologize? Profusely. Will you forgive me?**


	6. Chapter 6: Not Well

**A/N: Sooo, guys, I just realized that I never told you what time of the year it is, and when Lacey's born so; it's Christmas eve. and Lacey's almost a year old, she turns 1 on the 30th of December, my birthday :) also, it's almost Christmas, so it's really cold, and Little Miss Lacey is sick :( so I hope you enjoy it :)**

**REVIEWS: **

**I know I promised you guys I'd do shout outs, and I'm sorry, but I'm on my phone, so it's hard, and I promise I'll do them next time, k?**

**Chapter 6: Not Well**

"Carlooooos!" James whined; he was covered in Lacey's vomit, and was trying to hush the sobbing almost-one-year-old to sleep, it was 7.00 on Christmas Eve, and he, Carlos, and Logan were in charge of taking care of Lacey while Jo and Kendall were out on a date and Mrs Knight was Christmas shopping with Katie. Lacey was refusing to eat, and had just spit up her the boys' last attempt at feeding her all over James' shoulder.

"What time is Kendall coming home?" Carlos pulled his phone from his pocket, glanced at it and called to James from his position at the sink,

"Not for another hour," James groaned, rocking the baby in his arms as she continued to sob.

"Curse him, and Jo and their stupid date night!"

"Oh, come on James!" Logan said, looking up from his medical magazine "They haven't had a night to just to themselves since Lacey was born! They need a break, and seriously, it can't be that hard to get her to sleep," Logan got up and approached his friend.

"_You_ do it, then!" James said irritably, passing Lacey to Logan and storming into the bathroom. Lacey sobbed in Logan's arms, and he held her against his chest, making 'Shh' noises to calm her down.

"Shh, shh, Lacey baby, to gotta get some sleep, princess. Shh, shh, can you be a good girl and sleep for Uncle Logan.

"Do what Kendall does," Carlos suggested.

"What does Kendall do?" Logan asked in desperation as Lacey beat her tiny fists in anguish.

"Well, he holds her in his arms and sings to her ,"

"Sings to her?" Logan asked "are you sure?"

"Yeah," Carlos nodded excitedly.

"Oh, well, worth a shot,"Logan shrugged, looking down at Lacey, who was sobbing quietly. He took a deep breath,

"Cause you're not alone girl, I'll be there to hold ya,"

"No, no!" Carlos interrupted as Lacey continued to cry "You gotta sing Cover Girl like Kendall does," he made his way over to stand behind Logan and look down at Lacey

"You've got a heart of gold," he sang gently "a perfect original,"

"Wish you would stop being so hard on yourself for a while," Logan chimed in, the notes rolling off his tongue as he looked down at Lacey, whose eyes were beginning to from "And when I see that face, I'd try a thousand ways,"

"I would do anything to make you smile," James held the note as he came out of the bathroom, resigning his voice to a gentle hum so as not to wake Lacey. "Cause you're my cover, cover girl, I think you're a superstar, yeah you are, why don't you know? Yeah you're so pretty, that it hurts, it's what's underneath your skin, the beauty that shines within, you're the only one that rocks my world, my cover girl." they finished, and Logan looked down at Lacey, who gave an enormous yawn as he placed a gentle hand on her forehead, drawing back immediately, however, and turning to James and Carlos,

"She's burning up!" he hissed.

"What?" James squeaked.

"But, it's freezing outside!" Carlos gestured out the window to where the icy wind was whipping the palm trees and making ripples on the surface of the deserted pool.

"Yes," Logan said quickly "but it's too hot in here!"

"Oh," James smirked, moving towards the door.

"Not you, James!" Logan snapped, his voice panicky, and a small smile playing on his lips "Just turn the heat down!" he opened up the first few buttons of Lacey's shirt, handing her off to Carlos and grabbing a washcloth from Kendall's bathroom. He ran cool water over it at the sink, and wrung it out before heading back to Carlos. "Here, baby," he said gently, taking the baby from Carlos and gently laying the cloth on Lacey's forehead "We've gotta bring her fever down,"

Lacey had awoken again, and was now whimpering, blinking her teary eyes up at Logan, she let out a few short, high pitched coughs, and Logan instinctively put her over his shoulder, rubbing her back gently as she continued to cough. Suddenly, she began to retch, and be felt a warm sensation dribble onto his shoulder and down his back; Lacey was vomiting again. Logan inhaled sharply, trying desperately not to dry reach as he handed Lacey to James. "I'm never having kids!" he announced as went to the bathroom, shuddering as he did so.

"Aw, come on, Logan!" James called "Where are you going?"

"To wash the puke off my shoulder!" Logan jabbed at his shoulder with his hand, shuddering again and ducking back into the bathroom.

"Ya know," James said to Carlos "for a wannabe doctor, he's a bit of a germ freak," Carlos chuckled,

"Yeah, uh, James?" James looked down, just in time to see more vomit dribble from Lacey's mouth and onto his arm as she continued to cry and cough, resulting in more vomit.

"Aw, _man_!" James exclaimed, handing the baby to Carlos "Hold her for a sec,"

"Don't bother cleaning up," Carlos said over Lacey's screams "she'll just do it again!"

"I'm not," James replied loudly, searching around the living room "I'm trying to. Find. The. Washcloth!" each word was punctuated as James frantically threw pillows over his shoulder "Ah hah!" he exclaimed as he retrieved the damp cloth from under the couch and rinsed it.

"Aw!" Carlos yelled in frustration as another gagging noise could be heard from the living room, "James, would ya hurry up with that cloth?!" James wrung out the cloth, and made his way over to Carlos, sidestepping his friend's grasp.

"It's not for you," James said, taking the Lacey from him and putting the cloth on her forehead as she resigned herself to little whimpers.

"Ok," Carlos said, taking Lacey back "but how do we stop her from-" he was cut off as he received another glob of vomit in the face from Lacey "_that_!" he snapped, wiping his eyes as James began to chuckle.

"Don't you dare!" Carlos demanded, and James tried to pull a straight face.

"Yes, sir!" he saluted, and Carlos couldn't help but laugh.

"Ugh," Carlos groaned as Lacey vomited on him yet again "Seriously?"

"She won't stop! She must be really sick!" James cried, wiping some of the puke from Carlos' shirt and wiping it on his pants. "Maybe we should just call Kendall-"

"No," Logan sighed , coming out of the bathroom "he's having a date night, we can't pester him."

"Yeah," Carlos put in, nodding "besides, we got this,"

"Exactly," Logan nodded "We just gotta get her to stop puking," he took Lacey from Carlos, holding her over his shoulder and rubbing her back to try and calm down her vomiting. "There should be some medicine in our bathroom, James, go get it?" Logan asked as Lacey dribbled another bit of vomit down his back.

"Some way to spend Christmas, huh?" Carlos said, sidestepping Logan to avoid being near the vomit that was on his back.

"Yeah," Logan replied, rubbing Lacey's back again as she began to gag and hiccup "I wonder if Jo and Kendall are having fun,"

"Well, they don't have to deal with that," Carlos cringed as Lacey threw up again on Logan's shoulder. "so they're probably having a great time." James appeared at that moment, medicine in hand.

"Uh, Logan?" James asked as he and Carlos tried to decipher the chart on the side of the box "How much do we give her?"

"Give it here," Logan said, shifting Lacey to one arm and grabbing the box. "Oh, this isn't the right stuff," he looked up at James, who shrugged.

"It was all you had," he said "except for a few tablets."

"Yeah," Logan muttered, thinking "this'll be too strong for her, we need something weaker," he trailed off as he looked down at Lacey who was whimpering, and had begun to sweat.

"Well, what do we do?" Carlos asked, his voice rising as he watched Lacey get hotter and hotter.

"Call Mama Knight?" James suggested.

"She's Christmas shopping with Katie," Logan said. "she won't be home in time,"

"Well, we can't just wait for her!" Carlos cried as Lacey continued to vomit. "We gotta do something

"I know, Carlos," Logan said gently "we should check her temperature before we do anything." Carlos nodded,

"Ok, where's the temperature thingy?" he asked, looking around desperately.

"It's called a thermometer," Logan reminded him "and it's in the medicine cabinet in Mama Knight's bathroom," Lacey continued to cry and writhe in Logan's arms, and he stroked her head in a useless attempt to calm her down.

"Carlos! Hurry up!" Logan called, trying to keep Lacey still as Carlos appeared with the thermometer.

"So, where do we put this thing?" he asked, turning the long object in his hands as Logan scoffed,

"You're almost 20 years old, and you don't know how to use a thermometer?" he asked, taking the device from Carlos.

"I'm not the one who wants to be a doctor," Logan ignored Carlos' comment, and tried to put the thermometer in Lacey's mouth,

"Come on, Lacey baby," he cooed "this'll make you feel better," Eventually he got the thermometer into Lacey's mouth, and managed to get a reading, "105.9," Logan read out quietly, looking up at Carlos and James "Call Kendall,"

**A/N: Yay! Finally a long chapter! WHOO HOO! :D now, i'm sorry for any mistakes in this chapter, because it's massive and I can't really be bothered going through it. Also, it says, Lacey's fever's 105.9, now according to my research that means she's sick, but I have no clue since America works in Fahrenheit, and Australia works in Celsius, so sorry if the conversion or number is totally out :)**


	7. Chapter 7: Christmas at the Hospital

**A/N: Hey there guys, sorry about the temperature thing and thanks for your help, I'll fix it up later :) I just Googled "temperature stomach virus" and it came up with 104 for infants was flu, and 106 was dangerous, so I kinda picked in the middle :)**

**Chapter 7: Christmas at the Hospital**

Lacey continued to moan and cry as they all piled into Mrs Knight's rental car and Logan drove them to the GP. Carlos was on the phone in the back seat to Kendall, and James sat beside Logan, talking to Mama Knight. Carlos hung up his phone and began rubbing Lacey's stomach as she cried.

"Kendall's on his way," Carlos announced before turning around in his seat to console Lacey.

"So's Mama Knight," James said, snapping his phone shut and turned around in his seat to face Carlos and Lacey, "it's gonna be OK, baby girl, we're gonna take you to the doctor then make you all better," he cooed as Logan pulled the rental car into a clear parking space and got out. Carlos unbuckled Lacey from her car seat, and Logan picked her up as the other two got out of the car. Lacey had stopped crying now, but her eyes were still teary and she was fidgeting in Logan's arms. Carlos checked them in while James and Logan found some seats,

"Maybe you should put her down," James suggested as Carlos came back and sat beside him "she's really restless," Logan nodded and set Lacey on the floor, where she sat quietly, ignoring all the toys that were around her.

"Whoa, she really must be sick," James chuckled as the front door of the waiting room opened, and Kendall and Jo came in. Jo gasped and ran over to sit by Lacey,

"Oh, sweety, you're so pale!" she cooed as Lacey crawled over to her mother, wrapping her arms around her middle as Jo hugged her close.

"What's wrong with her," Kendall asked the guys in a low voice, leaning close so Jo wouldn't hear.

"She just started vomiting, and she has a fever," Logan explained, and Kendall sighed,

"And on Christmas, too,"

"Lacey Taylor-Knight?" a nurse called from the desk, and everyone looked up.

"You guys take her," Logan smiled as Jo stood, bending down to pick up Lacey, who was whimpering again.

"Thanks, guys," Kendall said to the guys, also standing "for everything." he made his way out of the waiting room, following Jo and the nurse down the hall, to the doctor's office.

"Just in here," the nurse smiled, holding open the door for the couple.

"Hello," the doctor smiled "I'm Doctor Johnson, and this must be little Lacey," he smiled at the baby in Jo's arms.

"Yeah" Jo replied in a small voice, putting Lacey on the examination table, trying unsuccessfully to get her to stay in place and hushing her as she fidgeted and tried to cling onto her mother. "Shh, Lacey baby, the doctor's going to make you feel better,"

"Yes," the doctor smiled "now, what exactly is wrong with her?"

"Uh," Jo looked to Kendall for an explanation, and he reeled off what Carlos had told him,

"She didn't eat her dinner, and she was coughing and vomiting, and she has a fever," he told the doctor, who nodded.

"Please take off her shirt," he said to Jo, who nodded and obliged. The doctor retrieved a stethoscope from his desk and put it in place on Lacey's back, and she wriggled away from the cold instrument, yelping.

"Well," Kendall asked as he put Lacey's shirt back on after the doctor was done checking her. "what's wrong with her?"

"She's a bit congested," the doctor explained as Kendall looked at him with a blank and confused expression "and her fever is high, so in accordance with vomiting, I'd say she's got the flu, with a bit of a stomach virus. I'd say just give her some simple infant cough medicine and try and keep her fever down overnight, try not to feed her too much to upset her stomach, and make sure someone's monitoring her, and she should be OK for Christmas morning," the doctor smiled as Kendall picked up Lacey, and she nuzzled into his chest.

"Thank you, doctor," Jo said, bidding the doctor goodbye as Kendall led the way out of the office.

"What's the matter with her?"James stood up and approached Kendall as they walked into the waiting room, stoking Lacey's forehead.

"She has the flu, with a hint of a stomach virus," Kendall explained.

"Aw," Carlos joined James at Kendall's side "poor baby! Is there anything we can do for her?"

"Uh, yeah, we gotta give her some infant cough medicine, so could you guys pick some up on the way home? We're gonna get Lacey home."

"Of course, buddy," Carlos smiled.

"Thanks," Kendall smiled "we'll see you at home," they said their goodbyes, and Kendall and Jo buckled Lacey into her carseat, and heading back to the Palm Woods. Jo set Lacey down in her crib in 2J, and tucking her in as Kendall stood beside her. Lacey beat her fists and kicked her blankets off as she cried.

"Come on Lacey, baby," Jo cooed "you've gotta get some rest for Christmas tomorrow."

"Maybe we should wait for the others to get back with the medicine,"

"Yeah," Jo sighed, picking Lacey up out of her crib and patting her back as she coughed.

"How is she?" Mrs Knight asked, appearing in the kitchen and heading over to see Lacey, who was still sweating and coughing.

"She's OK," Jo replied, feeling Lacey's forehead with the back of her hand as Kendall appeared with a damp cloth "but she won't sleep while she's coughing like this, so we've gotta wait for the guys to get back with the cough medicine." Jo placed the cloth on the crying baby's head, trying to hush her so as not to wake Katie.

"Well, I hope she gets better," Mrs Knight said, kissing Kendall's cheek and hugging Jo with one arm "good night, you two," she said as she made her way into her bedroom.

"What time is it?" Jo asked Kendall as she bounced a crying and coughing Lacey in her arms.

"11pm," Kendall replied, taking the washcloth from Jo and rinsing it in the sink again as the front door opened and Logan, Carlos and James walked in, carrying a plastic bag.

"Hey," Kendall said, looking up and taking the bag from James as James made his way over to Lacey, along with Carlos, both of them cooing and smiling at her.

"How is she?" Logan asked, helping Kendall measure out the cherry flavored medicine onto a spoon.

"Uh, I think she's OK, but she's been coughing a lot more since we got home, I'm worried she might have an asthma attack," Kendall called Jo over, and together they managed to get a very stubborn Lacey to take her medicine.

"It says that the medicine will make her drowsy," James read off the box "so you guys might get some sleep tonight," he smirked as Jo rolled her eyes. "Seriously, though, try and get some sleep, you don't wanna be tired on Christmas, especially Lacey's first one,"

"You're right," Kendall smiled as Jo took an already droopy Lacey to her crib, "night, guys,"

"Good luck, buddy," Logan said as they all said their good nights. Kendall made his way into his room, changed, brushed his teeth and was lying in bed waiting for Jo when she came out of the bathroom in her pajamas, grabbing her phone from the bedside table, dialing, and putting it to her ear,

"Hello? Dad?"

**A/N: Ooh! Cliffhanger :) please excuse any mistakes i've made, again I didn't check it really well, and autocorrect has issues :/**


	8. Chapter 8: Daddy's home for Christmas

**A/N: Hey, guys, finally its update time! So I'm on my laptop now, so that means review time! Also, this chapter's not that great I'm afraid; I had a bit of a writer's block with this one :(**

**REVIEWS:**

**Again, sorry about the temperature hahah**

**Ugochi: Yeah, you're right, but they've called Camille before, and I wanted to add Kendall into the story a bit more**

**Guest: You read my mind :)**

**Chapter 8: Daddy's home for Christmas**

Jo stepped out of the room and sat down on the couch.

"Are you still coming tomorrow?" she asked, twirling her hair nervously.

"Yes, Josephine, I am, because your mother will refuse," the words stung Jo, but she pushed it away, patiently waiting for her father to finish "but that doesn't mean I forgive you for what you did" he finished shorty.

"Yes, sir," Jo said quietly.

"I'll be there at 11 am sharp,"

"Yes, sir," Jo mumbled.

"What was that, Josephine?" her father demanded.

"I said, yes, sir," Jo repeated, cringing at her father's harsh tone.

"That's right, now, goodbye Josephine,"

"Goodbye, sir," Jo said, as he hung up on her. She sighed as Kendall walked up, unnoticed, behind her.

"Are you OK?" he asked gently, sitting beside her on the couch and pushing a stray hair behind her ear.

"Yeah," Jo lied "why?"

"I know you're not OK," Kendall said softly, pulling Jo into a protective embrace "why?" he asked gently.

"It's just that, I was just talking to my dad," Kendall stiffened around Jo "and, well, it's stupid,"

"Jo, if it's making you upset, it's definitely not stupid," Kendall assured, pushing Jo's fringe gently from her face. Jo blew out a breath,

"Ok, well, I sorta thought that dad might not hate me as much now that Lacey's here, but he was just as mad as when I called him before," Jo's eyes filled with tears and her entire body shook with sobs as Kendall stroked her hair, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"What makes you think Lacey would change his mind?" Kendall asked gently as he wiped her tears with the pad of his thumb.

"She's his granddaughter!" Jo cried, but faltering as she realized that it was a pointless argument "I guess I just thought that….maybe…..oh, I don't know!" Jo's voice began to rise again as more tears fell "Kendall I'm such an idiot, why did I—?"

"Josephine Marie Taylor, do not ever tell me that! Do not ever think so wrongly of yourself! You're the smartest person I know, besides my mom, and Logan, but all he does is hide his nose in his books." Kendall's heart rose as he heard Jo chuckle ever so slightly.

"Jo," he pushed her away from him into a sitting position, "I know you want your dad to be here," her face fell, and Kendall put hand against her cheek, stroking her soft skin as he gazed into her eyes and spoke, his voice gentle and loving, yet firm as he dropped his hand to land on top of hers "and I know you love him, and he's your father, but I just don't think I want him around Lacey," Kendall finished hesitantly, and he watched cautiously as Jo avoided his gaze, staring straight past him, apparently unable to hear him.

"Why would you say that?" her voice was soft, but Kendall could hear anger cutting across it.

"What do you mean?" he asked, trying not to sound defensive.

"Why would you say that?" she repeated "He's my dad!" her voice shook and Kendall panicked.

"I know!" he said quickly, leaning forward and reaching for her hands, but she withdrew them in an instant. "But look what he did last time he saw you, I don't want him doing anything like that to our Lacey."

"What?" Jo demanded "I—"

"Jo," Kendall interrupted quickly "I love you, but I just don't trust him, and I don't want anyone I don't trust around my daughter,"

"Your daughter?!" Jo demanded "News flash, Kendall; she's my daughter, too! And you don't get to decide things on your own, OK? So, I've decided that my dad is coming for Christmas, and he's going to meet his granddaughter! Now, please go away, I've decided that I'm sleeping on the couch tonight," the words stung Kendall, and he got up wordlessly, and left the room without a second glance.

The next morning dawned on apartment 2J, and Kendall awoke to find Jo already awake and cleaning up the apartment vigorously.

"Still mad, huh?" Kendall said gently, leaning against the counter as Jo straightened the placemats on the table.

"Yep," she snapped.

"Uh, when are you thinking of waking up Lacey?"

"Soon,"

"Am I gonna get a response with more than one syllable?" Kendall asked, and Jo huffed, storming into the bathroom. "Jo, wait! Please! I'm just trying to lighten things up, it's Christmas day! It's Lacey's first Christmas, can't we just forget about this, for Lacey's sake?"

"Fine, Kendall, we can forget about this, but what about when he gets here, huh? What's gonna happen then?"

"I don't know," Kendall said gently, approaching Jo and taking her elbow gently "we'll work that out, but for now I just want Lacey to have the best Christmas ever." Jo sighed,

"Alright, you'd better wake her up so we can do presents before dad gets here, because he won't have brought any," Kendall could hear the hint of sadness in her voice, but decided to let it slide as he made his way into his room to wake his daughter.

**A/N: I feel like the last but was a bit rushed, so sorry about that, but I'm super tired and my fingers hurt from typing :/ so I hope that it's not a completely horrible ending for you... Review anyways?**


	9. Chapter 9: A Christmas Chaos

**A/N: Hey, guys, I know it's been forever since I updated, and I'm soooo sorry, and I have a few pathetic excuses that aren't even worth sharing, because not updating is inexcusable!**

**WARNING: A bit of crude language from Jo's dad, so sorry about that, but I thought it worked with the whole thing, so just watch out for that :)**

**Chapter 9: A Christmas Chaos**

"Merry Christmas!" Carlos called out as he bounded into the living room, his grin fading slightly as he looked around the room as everyone, including Lucy, Camille and Stephanie, we're all sitting around the apartment, talking or entertaining themselves.

"Try talking a little louder, Carlos," Logan said sarcastically "I don't think you woke up the homeless people at the end of the street!" Carlos, however, hadn't payed any attention to Logan, and was still looking around at the others,

"Was I the last person awake again?" he asked, his brown eyes widening.

"Yeah," James chuckled "we thought we'd have to start opening presents without you!"

"What are you talking about?" Kendall smiled, bouncing Lacey on his lap," we did!"

"What?" Carlos cried, looking, wide eyes, at Mrs Knight, who struggled to keep a straight face.

"Yeah, Carlos," Logan put in "we figured you didn't want your presents, do we have the to charity," Carlos' eyes widened, and Mrs Knight clipped Logan over the head.

"Logan!" she scolded, trying not to laugh along with him.

"He didn't, did he, Mama Knight ?" Carlos asked, his bottom lip trembling,

"Of course not!" Mrs Knight laughed.

"Oh, Carlos," Stephanie smiled "you're so gullible!"

"Am not!" Carlos pouted "What does gullible mean again?" he asked Logan, who rolled his eyes.

"Gullible means you fall for tricks easily," Jo explained, smiling.

"I do not!"

"Do to!" James retorted.

"Do not!"

"Do to!"

"Do-"

"OK!" Mrs Knight announced "if you guys wanna open presents before breakfast, then we'd better get started,"

"Exactly!" Carlos said, looking expectantly at Mrs Knight, who laughed.

"Go on," she chuckled, and Carlos squatted on the ground in front of the Christmas tree, scanning the presents in front of him. He picked up the first present, squinting at the name tag.

"To Logan, from Camille," he smiled, handing the present off to Logan, who accepted it, staring down at it as he opened it, embarrassed, as all eyes watched him. He smiled as he looked down at an electronic photo frame, captivated as he watched photos of the two of them scroll by.

"Oh, Camille, honey, I love it!" he got up and made his way over to the armchair where Camille was sitting, and put his arms around her neck, kissing the top of her head. "Thank you,"

"Aww!" chorused Jo, Stephanie and Mrs Knight, while Katie, James and Carlos made gagging noises.

"Next present!" Carlos yelled, startling Logan and Camille out of their embrace and kiss. "To Lacey, from Santa!" he read aloud, smiling as Kendall bounced Lacey on his knee again.

"Did you hear that, baby girl?" he asked in a baby voice "You got a present from Santa!" Lacey looked at her father, bewildered, her head cocked to the side. Kendall accepted the parcel from Carlos, and he and Jo opened it for Lacey, who watched in awe as Kendall untied the ribbon, revealing a soft teddy bear with a pink bow around its neck.

"Look that, Lacey baby," Kendall smiled, looking down at his daughter, who had the red Christmas ribbon in her hands, and was playing with it.

"Oh, Kendall," Mrs Knight chuckled "I think she likes the ribbon more than the present!"

"Does not!" Kendall pouted, trying to get Lacey to play with the teddy bear as Carlos pulled out the next present,

"To James, from Lucy,", the preset giving went on like this until the floor was littered with Christmas wrapping and everyone was chatting excitedly about their presents.

A while later, there was a knock on the door, and Kendall got up from his position with Jo and Lacey on the floor to answer it.

He looked through the peep hole, squared his shoulders and opened the door,

"Good morning, Kendall," Kendall stiffened as Mr Taylor spoke; he was being polite, but Kendall couldn't help putting up his defenses.

"Good morning, sir," he tried to keep the stiffness out of his voice as he held the door open "please, come in,"

"Thank you, Kendall," the hostility in Mr Taylor's voice made Kendall's blood boil, and he swallowed hard to keep himself calm,

"Everyone," he announced "Mr Taylor is here,"

"Good morning, Mr Taylor, I trust your flight was good?" Kendall gave a double take as his mother spoke; she was using her sarcastically sweet voice, something that she only reserved for Mr Bitters or Gustavo, and Kendall almost laughed aloud at the way Mr Taylor's face contorted at the sickly sweet dribble coming from Mrs Knight.

"Yes, it was fine, thank you, Mrs Knight," Jo's father smiled; a harsh, crooked smile that could have been mistaken for a grimace. Jo stood by the couch, and Kendall looked around to see that Camille was sitting cross legged on the floor, and had Lacey cradled safely in her arms, hidden party by the Christmas tree. Kendall could have sworn Camille caught his eye and smiled encouragingly.

"Hello, Josephine," Mr Taylor said, and Kendall instinctively wrapped his arms around Jo's shoulders as she shrank back against the coldness in her father's voice; Kendall knew it wasn't his place to stand up against Mr Taylor, given that the man was much older than he was, and was allowing Jo to stay with them, but ever since his father died, Kendall had always felt like he had to be the man of the house, even more so, now that he was a father himself.

"Hi, dad," Jo tried, and Kendall could tell, even before the words were out of her mouth that things hadn't changed between them;

"Excuse me?" Mr Knight snapped.

"Good morning, sir," Jo stuttered, and Kendall's heart ached at the way she was shaking, and how afraid she was of her father.

"Kendall?" Kendall snapped out of his thoughts and looked up to face Jo's father.

"Yes, sir?"

"A word?" the older man asked eyeing Kendall's arms, which were clutched protectively around Jo's thin shoulders, and he withdrew them immediately.

"Of course, sir," Kendall kissed the top of Jo's head, and she gave him a nervous smile before going back into the living room as Mr Taylor led the way into the hall "What can I-?"

"Just listen." he said in a low voice "Look, kid, I know you love my daughter, and I respect that," he said, almost casually "I've made allowances for that, too many if you ask me; I forgave you when you broke Jo's curfew, I forgave you when you took her to the prom and ignored my word, I even forgave you when you broke her heart by leaving for tour and then coming back months later, only to confront her because you didn't trust her," Kendall's stomach gave an angry churn "but I will _never_ forgive you for what you've done, for getting her pregnant at 18!"

"Sir, I-" Kendall began.

"Do not interrupt me, boy!"

"Excuse me, but I'm not a-"

"Not a boy, eh?" Mr Taylor said, stepping closer to Kendall "A boy would argue against those older than him, a boy would blatantly throw around his girlfriend, and a boy would knock her up before she's even considered a woman!"

"Please, I-"

"You're doing it again, Kendall," Mr Taylor said "boys don't beg, boys don't have any respect for their girls at all, and before they know it, they're a scared little kid with a girl they don't even remember the name of, and a bastard child!"

"Excuse me?" Kendall snapped. "Don't talk about my baby that way!"

"Your baby, huh?" Mr Taylor challenged "who's the one that was man handled and ended up pregnant? Who's the one who had to deal with all that crap while you were touring the country! Who was the one who gave birth to it? There's no way it's yours, Kendall," Mr Taylor snarled, inches from Kendall's nose and breathing heavily "it's just your mistake,"

"Take it back!" Kendall snapped, balling his fists .

"Take it back? That's a boy's answer! Grow up, son, you don't even deserve to have my daughter in your life!"

"How dare you?" all of Kendall's manners disappeared as he shouted at the man before him, whose face was contorted with rage. "You abused your own daughter when she needed you the most, and you kicked her out onto the street, you _totally_ don't deserve a girl as wonderful as she is, and you do _not_ deserve to see your grandchild!"

"You listen here!" Mr Taylor growled.

"No," Kendall shouted "_you_ listen! I'm sick and tired of you abusing your daughter, and it kills me to see way she cowers under you, and the way she tries so hard to make you love her again, but you refuse to forgive her-" before Kendall could even finish his sentence, he had been shoved onto the ground, flat on his back, the sting of Mr Taylor's punches burning his cheeks as he tried to get the older man off him. Kendall wrestled Jo's father under him, and threw a punch to his jaw, hearing the Mr Taylor grunt under the impact. Suddenly, there was a shriek, and a call of, "Mrs Knight!" and Kendall felt himself being pulled off the other man, his arms and legs flailing as he fought to get at him again.

"Let me go!" he shouted "Get off of me!" he yelled at his mother, who ignored him, and struggled to keep her grip around his middle as Kendall glared at Mr Taylor, who had scrambled to his feet, and was now dusting himself off, muttering, "Boy's reaction,"

"Get out!" Kendall bellowed, unable to contain himself "Get away from my family, and never come back!" he continued to fight as his mother wrestled him into the apartment, but stopped when he noticed Jo standing by the door, her eyes filled with tears and her body shaking. Kendall shrugged off his mother and stood in front of her, his heart aching as though it was burning.

"Jo," he murmured, but she put a hand on his arm to stop him.

"Don't," she sniffled, taking a deep breath "you were right; he was still violent, and if I had let him get a hold of Lacey, I-" she sighed "but look at you, you're all bloodied up," she ducked into the kitchen, grabbing a damp washcloth and dabbing it on his mouth, sighing as he flinched.

"Ow," he inhaled sharply.

"You've got a split lip," she said gently, running a hand through his hair.

"Does that mean no kissing?" Kendall asked, his bottom lip bleeding as he spoke. Jo sighed and nodded as she dabbed at it with the cloth

"Except for this," she smiled, standing on her toes and planting a gently but loving peck on his lips. "Thank you, Kendall," she gave a watery smile "I love you,"

**A/N: So there you go guys, now I know Mr Taylor is a bit out of character, but I had so muh fun making him mean, so yeah :) also, I'm sorry if I called him Mr Knight in places, I think I fixed it all but I may not have :)**


	10. Chapter 10: Help From A Friend

**A/N: Sorry about the long wait, guys, I got caught up in my new Blue Water High story :) oopsie! Anyways, here's the update, and hopefully I'll get the next chapter up a lot quicker :)**

**Chapter 10: Help From A Friend**

Carlos sat by the Christmas tree on the floor, his knee jumping up and down, but otherwise totally quiet. It had been this way since Kendall had been dragged back into the apartment what seemed like hours ago. The whole apartment was silent; no one had spoken since Mr Taylor had asked for a private word with Kendall; they had all been listening intently. No one spoke after Kendall, Mrs Knight and Jo had re-entered the apartment, the tense silence was thick and painful on the air as Carlos looked around at the others; the girls were looking through the presents silently, James and Logan were quietly reading their respective Pop Tiger and medical magazines, Mrs Knight and Katie were cleaning up the breakfast dishes, Jo was sitting on the chair at the desk, Lacey sleeping in her arms, gazing at her feet – Carlos could have sworn he saw tears in her eyes—and Kendall was sitting on the couch, jaw set, and his fists balled up in anger.

Carlos couldn't help but let his bottom lip wobble; it was Christmas morning, no one was talking to each other, and Kendall had driven away Jo's father! Carlos didn't blame him, of course, from what he and the others had heard through the door, her was pretty mad, but Carlos didn't understand why everyone was so quiet now.

"Does this mean Christmas is over?" he asked hesitantly, and he heard a sigh.

"No, buddy," Kendall said, smiling "we can still have Christmas," he stood up, looking around at his family and friends, "I'm so sorry, guys, but can we please just get started on lunch? Mom, do you need help with the cooking?" Mrs Knight looked up from her position at the sink, where she had been staring absentmindedly at the dirty dishes.

"Uh, yeah, sure, honey," she said, and Kendall cringed at the forced way she spoke. "could you take the potatoes out of the oven?"

"Yeah, Kendall sighed, "sure. Uh, mom?" he lowered his voice, bending down to take out the tray and placing it on the stove top. Mrs Knight turned to face her son,

"What is it, honey?" she asked, the edge gone for her voice. Kendall hesitated,

"Does—" he took a breath "does everyone hate me" he paused "for what I did?"

"Oh, honey," Mrs Knight said gently, putting the dishcloth back in the sink. "they don't hate you,"

"I would," Kendall muttered.

"Kendall," Mrs Knight sighed "they have no reason to hate you, you did the right thing,"

"But I ruined Christmas," he persisted "my daughter's first Christmas, and I wrecked it! If I had just let it slide, then everything would've been fine, she would've met her grandfather, her only grandfather!" Kendall slammed the oven door shut, heaving a sigh and storming out of the kitchen, out of the apartment, out of the elevator, out of the Palm Woods, and into the park, where he stood, shivering. He really should've grabbed a jacket; it was late December, so, although it wasn't really snowing this morning, it was still freezing. Kendall looked over at the sun that was settling in the sky, the way it sat like a light bulb against a pale roof when you've just woken up and you're eyes are adjusting to the light, and everything's blurry. Kendall sighed, turning away and walking, head bent against the wind, down the street to the hockey rink. He hadn't brought any of his gear with him, but he didn't care; there was no way he was going back to the judgemental silence to get it when he could just borrow some from the rink. He took in a deep breath as he knocked on the locked door of the rink; it was closed, but he knew the owner's son, Mark, would be there early, as he always was. Sure enough, Mark appeared at the door, opening it and letting Kendall in.

"Kendall Knight," he said, smiling and shaking Kendall's hand "what brings you heat this early in the morning?"

"Ah, it's not that early, man," Kendall replied, feeling better already; Mark had been friends with him and the guys since they were in middle school, he was the one that got them into hockey in the first place, and had helped them all get into their school hockey team, but he'd moved interstate with his dad after his parents had divorced, and the guys hadn't heard from him until they moved to L.A and found out that his dad had bought the rink.

"Not when you got a screamin' one year old to get you outta bed," Mark's eyes widened, and Kendall chuckled. "Come on, man," Kendall playfully punched his arm "don't you read Pop Tiger?"

"Nah, man, that stuff's for chicks!" Mark scoffed "And since when would I follow top ten boy bands anyway?" he joked. "Whose kid is it?" he asked.

"Mine," Kendall replied "and Jo Taylor's." he watched Mark carefully as the other boy narrowed his eyes, and then laughed.

"Dude, that can't be true! You? Nice, hopeless romantic Kendall knocked up a chick?" he laughed "Who's Jo Taylor anyway?"

"She's an actress," Kendall explained "and my girlfriend,"

"Right, man, well how come you're here?" Mark asked, awkwardly changing the subject.

"I just thought I'd clear my head a bit, is that cool?"

"Yeah, man," Mark smiled "how about a little one-on-one with your old buddy?" he asked, grabbing a hockey stick from the rack.

"Yeah, cool," Kendall replied "anything to get my mind off this morning." he muttered "Mind if I borrow some gear?"

"Sure, bro," Mark said, grabbing a pair of skates and handing them to Kendall.

"You still know my skate size?" Kendall asked, pulling on his skates and lacing them up.

"Yeah," Mark replied, tying his own laces. "Just because you got famous and forgot about me, doesn't mean I forgot about you," he winked.

"So you do read about us!" Kendall said, slapping Mike's chest and laughing "I haven't forgotten about you, man," Kendall said as the two made their way to the rink.

Before long, Kendall and Mark were skating around on the ice like old times, talking and joking like they did in middle school.

"So you really have a baby?" Mark asked, passing Kendall the puck and skating alongside him.

"Yeah," Kendall couldn't help the proud smile that crept across his face. "a little girl, her name's Lacey,"

"Sweet, but I really wouldn't have picked you to have a kid at 19,"

"Well, she's almost a year old, now, we had her last year," he smiled.

"You're so proud, aren't you?" Kendall nodded "So, how come you need to get your mind off it?" Mike asked.

"Ah, cause I screwed up this morning," Kendall replied "Big time,"

"How so, man?" Mark asked, skidding to a stop.

"Ah, well I sorta stuffed things up with Jo's dad," Kendall began, and before he knew it he was spilling everything to Mark, who stood silently, listening. "—and I basically ruined Christmas, so, what should I do?" he asked, running a hand through his hair.

"Well, I don't think you ruined Christmas, man, but I think you should go back and talk to them." Mike smiled.

"Since when did you become Doctor Phil?" Kendall chuckled "Nah, man, thanks a heap, I guess I'll see you around, huh?"

"Yeah," Mike patted Kendall's shoulder "you, too, bro, tell the guys I said hi," he called as Kendall made his way out of the ice rink and began to walk home.

The apartment was a bit livelier when Kendall returned, but Jo was the only one that looked up when he opened the door.

"Where have you been?" she asked, holding a sleeping Lacey over her shoulder and getting up to greet him.

"I went down to the rink," he replied gently, standing at Jo's shoulder and stroking Lacey's hair "to clear my head,"

"Oh, good," Jo smiled "Listen, Camille and the girls are on their way over, so could you grab their presents out of our room while I wake up Lace?" Kendall's heart rose.

"Sure," Kendall chuckled, caressing Lacey's head and pecking Jo's cheek. He couldn't help but smile as he made his way into his bedroom; sure, there was a lot of explaining to do, but it could wait, it was Christmas morning, his girlfriend was talking to him, and everything was going to run normally, it was all over now.

**A/N: There we go, guys, sorry, I feel like I'm making Christmas morning drag on forever, but the next chapter will be the last one during Christmas, I promise :)**


	11. Chapter 11: Something's not right

**A/N: Here we go, guys, next chapter :) Sorry it took me so long, I've been working on and off on it all day, but it was really hard to finish off the Christmas day, and I'm still not 100% happy with it :/ Oh my gosh, did you all hear about Jane? How sweet and sad at the same time :'( Our boys are incredible!**

**Anyway, here we go, thank goodness I'm done with the Christmas day chapters, they were driving me nuts, so please excuse me if this chapter sucks :/**

**Chapter 11: "Something's not right"**

Camille, Lucy and Stephanie had returned an hour later, bearing more presents, and accompanied by the Jennifers, who cooed noisily over Lacey as Jo and Camille helped set up for lunch.

"Are you mad?" Camille asked Jo as she set out cutlery and Jo placed a bowl of salad on the table.

"At Kendall?" Jo asked, and Camille nodded "not really, I mean, yeah, kinda," she blew out a breath "I guess I am, but I can't blame him for what he did, I mean, if dad had gotten a hold of Lacey and hurt her, I'd never forgive myself, but then, dad said he was ready to forgive me, and from what I heard, Kendall pushed him—"

"But he pushed Kendall first," Camille interjected "he—"

"He obviously wasn't ready to forgive Kendall!" Jo interrupted "Maybe if I go and see him alone,"

"Jo," Camille said hesitantly "are you sure that's a good idea?"

"He's my dad," Jo replied.

"So?"

"So, he's my dad!" Jo repeated "I can't spend Christmas mad at him, and he at least deserves to see his granddaughter at Christmas, even if he doesn't approve her father, Lacey's his family, too!"

"Alright," Camille relented "if you think that's what's best, I'm behind you," Jo smiled,

"Thanks, Cami, but can you do me a favour?"

"Of course,"

"Can you not tell Kendall, please?"

"Are you sure?" Camille asked "I mean, doesn't he deserve to know where you're taking his daughter?"

"Yeah, but—" Jo paused "just, don't tell him, OK?"

"OK, but—" Jo smiled and made her way into the living room, but stopped as Camille grabbed her wrist "you're not going, now?" Camille hissed.

"Yeah," Jo slipped her hand out of Camille's grip "better sooner than later,"

"Won't everyone notice?" Jo chuckled.

"Do you have to ask so many questions?" she smirked, and something in it made Camille's insides churn nervously. "Besides, Cami," It was the first time that hearing the nickname made Camille feel sick "they won't if you keep them busy," she winked, and turned away, striding straight into the fray of wrapping paper and people, bending down and scooping up Lacey. Camille's insides churned even more, and she felt like she was going to vomit as she watched Jo feed excuses about Lacey needing to sleep to her friends, that sickeningly sweet smile on her lips as she carried her baby back into the kitchen. She winked at Camille before opening the door and waving, "See you, Cami," Camille shuddered as her best friend shut the door behind her.

A few minutes later, lunch was set up, and everyone was sitting around the table, talking and eating, the Jennifers had given their presents, stuck their noses up at Stephanie and Lucy, and had left.

"Camille," Kendall asked, leaning across the table to talk to her, and Camille's heart skipped a beat "Where's Jo?"

"Uh," Camille asked, looking over to Logan, who was sitting beside her, and who gave her a questioning and unhelpful look "she, uh—"

"And where's Lacey?" James asked through a mouthful of potato. Camille's stomach dropped; well, she had made it, she looked at the clock on the wall, twenty minutes without blowing Jo's cover. She took a deep breath; she could do this, she just had to summon her acting prowess; she just had to _act_ like…what, exactly? Like she didn't know where Jo was? No, that was a flat out lie, but so was making up some excuse or some fake place that Jo could be.

"Lacey's sleeping, but, uh, Jo's out," Camille managed to say.

"No she's not," Carlos put in with his mouth full, spraying chewed up turkey at Logan, who dry heaved and scrubbed at his cheek with a serviette. "I went in there before to put away some of her presents, and she wasn't in her crib." Kendall, who had been watching Carlos intently as he spoke, was now looking at Camille through narrowed eyes, and her stomach churned as she avoided his eye.

"Camille," he said slowly, and she was forced to meet his eyes "where are my daughter and my girlfriend?"

"Uh," Camille looked away "they're out, they went, uh—"

"Don't lie to me, Camille," he said, louder.

"Kendall," Logan warned "don't get mad at Camille, she doesn't know where they are," he put a hand in hers and looked across at Kendall.

"She does know!" Kendall shouted.

"Kendall" James yelled.

"Dude!" said Carlos.

"Guys! She knows!" he stood up "Why are you lying to me? Where are they?" his eyes were filled with tears, and Camille couldn't help but blurt it out,

"OK!" she yelled into the silence; everyone was staring at her now, even Carlos wasn't paying attention to his food. "Jo—she said she wanted to take Lacey to see her dad, and she—she made me promise not to tell you," Kendall fell into his seat, gazing helplessly at Camille.

"What?" he whispered "She went to his house?" Camille nodded "and—and she took—?" Camille nodded shakily again, and Kendall stood again,

"I gotta go," he said quietly, shoving back his chair and leaving without another word.

Jo held Lacey tight and warm in her arms, stroking the little girl's head as she looked around at the unknown place, and Jo knocked on the door. There was no answer, and none the second time she tried either, and Jo was beginning to get worried. She reached under the pot plant and unlocked the door with the spare key, shivering at the cold silver in her hand.

"Hello?" she called, closing the door behind her "Dad?" Lacey gazed up her mother, whimpering, and Jo clutched her to her chest. "It's OK, baby, don't worry," she hushed, more to herself than to the baby "It's gonna be OK, don't worry. Everything's gonna be fine, there's no need to worry." Jo hoisted Lacey onto her hip and began to pace, "OK, we're gonna fix this, um, OK, let's call your grandpa, OK? I'm sure he's just busy doing something," she pulled out her phone and dialled her father's number. Jo's heartbeat began quicken as the dial tone droned, and it skipped a beat as she realized that her father's phone was sitting on the bench behind her. "Oh, no," she breathed, hanging up and putting her phone back in her pocket.

The door opened behind her, and Jo leapt and squeaked in fright, and hushing Lacey as she cried from the sudden disturbance. She spun around, giving a start at the sight of the person standing in front of her.

"Kendall!" she breathed "What—how did you—why are you here?"

"I heard you were coming here, and I can't let you let our daughter be exposed to—where is he?" Kendall asked, looking around the apartment.

"He's not here!" Jo cried "Kendall, I have no idea where he is! He quit his job, and he hasn't got many friends in L.A, so I don't know where he would be!" Kendall stroked her hair as she fell into his arms and sobbed, and he took Lacey into his arms as Jo stood back up again.

"Listen," Kendall told her as she sniffled "don't worry yet, OK? We don't know something's not right. We just gotta relax, for now, until we hear something, alright?"

"Alright," Jo breathed.

"Come on; let's go back to the others, OK? And let's have fun on our baby girl's first Christmas," Kendall smiled, pushing Lacey's hair from her eyes. Jo clung to Kendall's arm, and she sniffled as they left her father's house; Kendall was right, they shouldn't spend the rest of Christmas day worrying, but she still couldn't help feeling that something wasn't right.

**A/N: Done with this terrible chapter! Yay! So hopefully the next one will be a bit better, it involves our Little Miss Lacey and her parents :) Review?**


	12. Chapter 12: It's Not Dangerous

**A/N: WARNING this is gonna be a bit of a long authors note, since I haven't been on for a while, so feel free not to read it :)**

**So guys, remember when I said the next update would be a lot faster, yeah I lied :) I'm sorry guys, but I've been at school and so I haven't had any time, but now it's holidays (yay!) so hopefully I'll be a lot better, and update my other stories too :) i also got a bit distracted with a later chapter so that's kind of an excuse :) **

**The idea for this chapter came from like nowhere, because I started working on it ages ago, but I got stuck, so I left it for a bit, and then came back to it like yesterday, and I was thinking about Little House On The Prarie, and yeah, if you watch it, it's when Charles was trying to get the kite back in season 1. **

**Omg did you guys watch Big Time Surprise! Eek! Who's he gonna pick? Ahh I don't know! Leave how you want it to turn out in your reviews if you like :) OK. That's the end of my A/N, so onto the chapter!**

**Chapter 12: It's Not Dangerous**

"Lacey, baby," Jo chuckled, taking the bauble from her daughter's hands as Lacey tried to put it in her mouth "you're not helping," Jo set the bauble into the plastic box beside her, and continued to take down golden ornaments as Kendall stood on a ladder, unwinding Christmas lights from balcony near the swirly slide.

"Kendall," Jo huffed, and Kendall looked down to see that Lacey had pulled herself to her feet, and was clinging to a row of tinsel that was close to the bottom of the tree. She began to lose her balance, however, toppling into a sitting position and taking the tinsel with her. Kendall chuckled as he made his way down the ladder and over to Lacey "Control your daughter, please?" Kendall bend down, wrenching the tinsel from Lacey's grasp and hoisting her onto his hip.

"Oh, so she's my daughter, now?" he asked.

"Only when she breaks things," Jo smirked "she got that from you,"

"No, I think she got that from her Uncle Carlos, she good her good looks from me," Jo snickered "and her beautiful mother, of course," he said as he walked back over to the swirly slide.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Kendall Knight," Jo followed him to the ladder "so don't you dare take our baby up that ladder,"

"Oh, come on," Kendall whined, and Jo scoffed "I'll be watching her the whole time! And she won't be in the way up here!"

"Yeah, but she almost pulled the Christmas tree on herself before, imagine what she could do to herself if she was up there! What if she fell, or-?"

"Jo!" Kendall interrupted "she can barely stand up, there's no way she's gonna fall. But, if it's worrying you that much," he said gently, setting Lacey down on the floor, where she spotted her new teddy bear and crawled over to it "then I won't take her,"

"Thanks," Jo smiled, relieved "Now, you'd better get those decorations down before the guys get here, or they'll be there till next summer,"

"Sure," Kendall said "but, uh, Jo?" Jo turned to see where Kendall was pointing to see that Lacey had crawled over to the decorations box and was now throwing them all over the room.

"Oh!" Jo groaned, grabbing Lacey and taking the ornaments from her grasp.

"How are you gonna cope when she learns to walk?" Kendall chuckled, turning back to the Christmas lights.

"That'll be your job," Jo told him, putting Lacey into her play pen, where she grabbed her stuffed cat and began thrashing it around.

"That's the hockey player in her," Kendall said proudly, beginning to climb down the ladder with an armful of Christmas lights "she's got the urge to destroy things,"

"And a hatred for cats," Jo added with a smirk as she continued to take down decorations "but I'm not sure I wan't our baby playing hockey, it's dangerous!"

"Oh, come on!" Kendall replied, scoffing "Dangerous? Look at me, I've been playing hockey ever since I was in middle school, and I'm fine!"

"I know," Jo said, "but, still, it's a rough sport, she could get hurt-" there was a shout, a crash, a thump, and a groan as Jo whipped around to see Kendall sprawled on his back on the ground, covered in the Christmas lights, the ladder lying on him and his arm bend at an odd angle.

"Kendall!" Jo cried, rushing to his side as tears stung her eyes and a lump formed in her throat "Are you OK?" she pushed the ladder off him with all her might and grabbed the Christmas lights.

"Yeah," Kendall grunted as he tried to sit up "Ow!" he lay back onto the ground "No,"

"Oh, my God!" Jo cried "Your arm!" she put her hands over her mouth in shock as she noticed the grotesque way his arm was bend up by his head.

"Yeah, that's not right," Kendall smiled, but it turned into a grimace of pain.

"This isn't funny!" Jo cried, getting up "I'm calling an ambulance!" she said as Lacey began to cry in her playpen,

"Better take care of Lace first," Kendall groaned as he tried to get up again.

"No," Jo told him, holding her phone to ear "you stay, I'll fix it," she bent down to Lacey's crib and grabbed her with one arm, hoisting the little girl onto her hip, and bouncing her up and down to calm her "Hello?" she said into the phone "Yeah, I need an ambulance, yep, OK. I'm at the Palm Woods hotel, apartment 2J, my boyfriend fell off a ladder. OK, thanks," she hung up her phone and tossed it onto the couch, holding a whimpering Lacey to her chest "It's OK, honey, daddy'll be fine,"

"What did they say?" Kendall asked, inhaling sharply as he tried to shift his weight so he could face Jo "How long are they gonna be? I can hardly move!"

"Don't," Jo told him gently "you'll just make it worse. They won't be long, OK? So, just-"

"What? Lay on the floor?" Kendall asked in frustration as there was a knock at the door.

"Well there's not much else you can do!" Jo said as Camille appeared in the doorway,

"What happened?" she gasped.

"A little decorating accident," Jo explained, her voice shaking.

"Did you call the paramedics?" Camille asked worriedly.

"Yeah, they'll be here in a sec, but-"

"You want me to take care of Lacey?" Camille guessed, smiling.

"Yes, please," Jo sighed in relief, but her stomach still lurched as the door burst open, and two men in blue overalls arrived, carrying a gurney. They laid it on the ground, and one of them squatted down to Kendall's level, while the other came over to Jo.

"How did this happen?" he asked.

"H-he-ladder, and-" Jo stuttered, unaware of how much she was shaking until Camille put a hand on her arm and answered for her.

"He was pulling down Christmas decorations, and he fell of the ladder," she explained calmly.

"Thank you," the paramedic said before turning to help his partner lift Kendall onto the gurney, and Jo's heart ached at the way he moaned with every movement.

"Is there a back way out of here?" the other paramedic asked "we can't really take him through the lobby,"

"There's a side door to the left of the elevators, it leads around the back of the pool, and you just follow the path up the stairs and out to the front of the pool." Camille explained.

"Thank you," he turned back to the gurney and lifted it as it's wheels unfolded underneath it. Jo followed the paramedics as they wheeled Kendall out of the apartment, but stopped outside the door as Camille gripped his elbow.

"Uh, Jo?" Camille asked, her eyes on Lacey, smiling as Jo realized,

"Oh, right!" she said, handing Lacey over and thanking Camille as she headed out the door. "Oh, Camille?" Jo turned in the doorway.

"Yeah?"

"You'd better call his mom,"

**A/N: Do you guys feel like they pretty much live in the hospital? Cause I do :/ anyway, I hope this chapter doesn't suck too much, and I'm gonna start working on the next one now :)**


	13. Chapter 13: The Hospital Again

**A/N: Here we go guys :) next chapter, the only thing to say about this is thank god I'm finished with Christmasy chapters :) also, sort for taking so long, I did a Big Time Change and got distracted with a future chapter (which I'm quite proud of, if I do say so myself :P) do sorry about that.**

**Chapter 13: The Hospital Again**

Camille paced up and down the apartment, bouncing Lacey in her arms as the little girl sobbed.

"Lacey, honey, I know you're upset, but please, shh," Camille begged "mommy and daddy are gonna be fine," Camille sighed; this was going to take some getting used to; it had been almost a year, and it still felt strange calling her best friends mum and dad. "Come on, babe, please sleep, shhhh, that's a girl," Camille smiled as Lacey stopped her crying and began to whimper, blinking her teary eyes up at Camille, who's heart sunk at the fear on the little girl's face; even at such a young age, she already loved her parents more than anything. The door opened at that

moment, and Mama Knight came in, followed by Katie, James, Carlos and Logan,

"Guys, can you put Lacey's presents in my room please? And Kendall-" Mrs Knight looked up at Camille, confused. "Hi, Camille," she smiled, still unsure.

"Hi, Mrs Knight!" Camille stalled.

"Where's Kendall, honey?" Mrs Knight asked, putting her shopping bags on the kitchen table "Where's Jo?"

"Uh, they went to, uh-" Camille searched for something to say, although she couldn't put her finger on why she was stalling. "Logan!" she cried as she saw her boyfriend step out from Mrs Knight's room.

"Hi, Camille?" Logan said, looking to Mrs Knight for an answer. "Hi, Lacey," he cooed when he spotted the little girl in Camille's arms. "Where's your mommy and daddy? Camille?" he said in a regular voice, looking up from Lacey. "Where's Jo and Kendall?"

"They, uh," she faltered under Logan's stare and sighed "OK, OK! They went to the hospital!"

"What?!" Carlos, Katie and James yelled, coming out of Mrs Knight's room.

"What happened?" Mrs Knight demanded "Who's hurt?"

"Kendall fell off the ladder while he was taking down Christmas decorations and Jo took him to the hospital," Camille said in one breath.

"Ok," Mrs Knight said, turning to face James, Carlos and Katie "Katie, you stay here with Camille, invite Lucy and Stephanie over to help take care of the baby if you want, and take down the decorations. Logan, James and Carlos, you three come with me to the hospital! MOVE!" she shouted at the dumbstruck teenagers, who scattered as she stormed out of the apartment.

The ride to the hospital was quiet, with the exception of Carlos' consistent babble of worried chatter.

"What if he's in a coma? What if he knocked himself out? What if he's bleeding to death right now? What if they didn't get there in time? What if-?"

"Carlos!" Logan, James and Mrs Knight snapped as Logan hit Carlos' chest.

"Honey, Kendall's gonna be fine, he's a strong boy, Ok? Don't worry," Carlos nodded, gazing fixedly out the window. "It's just that last time we were here, we-" he sighed "we almost lost Lacey," he pressed his cheek against the window, his breath fogging it up as he sighed.

"Carlos?" Logan gently nudged him a few moments later "We're at the hospital, buddy," Carlos nodded and they all made their way into the hospital, which was eerily quiet, with the exception of the clacking of computer keys. Mrs Knight approached the desk and got directions to Kendall's room, leading the others silently down the silent halls. She knocked on the door gently and they made their way inside to find Jo sitting on the bed, Kendall's hand in both of hers and talking to him in a whisper.

"Hey, there," Mrs Knight said gently standing beside Kendall's bed. "What happened Kendall?" she asked as Jo squeezed Kendall's hand once more before getting up and standing by James' side and resting her head on his shoulder as he and Logan put steady arms around her.

"I just fell off the ladder, mom," Kendall told Mrs Knight "I'm fine,"

"Excuse me," a young female doctor said, knocking on the open door and stepping into the room, carrying a clipboard, an envelope and some sort of material, and followed by some nurses, who had plastic containers with them. "Kendall, I'm afraid I've got some bad news," she said, and Kendall sat up a little straighter in bed. "I've printed off the X-Rays, and I'm afraid they've come up with some breaks."

"Where?" Mrs Knight demanded nervously.

"Well, um, when you fell from the ladder, I'm afraid you broke your arm, where your elbow joins together, so you'll need to have it in a cast until it heals," she paused as Mrs Knight gasped "and you've also got 2 broken ribs from where the you hit the ground, and where the ladder fell on, so they'll have to be strapped."

"Oh, honey," Mrs Knight gushed.

"Mom, I'll be fine!" Kendall groaned.

"He's right, Mrs Knight, but I'm afraid we'll need some room in here while we set up the cast and bandages. We'll call you when he's ready to go home, and you can come pick him up."

"Can Jo stay?" Kendall asked, indicating Jo, who was still wrapped in James, Logan and now Carlos' embrace and was resting her head on Logan's shoulder, trying to stop the tears from falling.

"Alright," the doctor said "but I'm going to have to ask the rest of you to leave." Mrs Knight patted squeezed Kendall's hand before stroking Jo's shoulder on the way out of the room. James, Carlos and Logan each patted Kendall's leg and pulled Jo into a hug before heading out. Jo stood in the corner of the room, watching as the nurses set up the mould for the cast and put it on his arm.

"Alright," the doctor said, smiling at Kendall and setting his arm on the bench that was attached to his bed. "you can't move your arm until that cast sets in a few hours, so I'll be back soon to put on your sling and strap your ribs."

"Thanks," Kendall muttered, and the doctor and nurses left the room.

"I'm so sorry," Jo sighed, coming over and sitting on the bed as Kendall shifted his legs to let her sit down.

"What are you talking about?" Kendall asked.

"This is all my fault!" she insisted.

"What makes you say that?" he put out his good arm, and she took his hand, fiddling with his fingers.

"You were going to go birthday shopping with your mom and the guys, and I asked you to stay and help me take down the decorations! I could have handled them by myself-"

"Yeah, but if you'd have fallen, and the roles were reversed, I would've never forgiven myself!"

"Still-" Jo protested.

"Look, Jo, I'm gonna be fine, OK? I'll just be sore for a couple days, so you'll just have to be gentle, but other than that, I'm fine."

"You're gonna be out for Lacey's birthday," Jo whispered.

"What? No I'm not!" Kendall protested, trying to sit up and groaning.

"Uh, yeah you are," Jo told him "Lacey's birthday's in four days, Kendall, you're not gonna heal that quickly,"

"I'll make it work," he sighed.

They talked for a few more hours before the nurse appeared again to put Kendall's arm into a sling and bandage his stomach. Jo's stomach churned when the nurse lifted his shirt at the way he was bruised, and she nodded wordlessly as the nurse taught her how to change his bandages. Within the next hour, Jo was helping him into Camille's father's rental car, and was driving home as Kendall moaned beside her.

"I thought you were fine, ya big baby!" she teased.

"I swear it didn't hurt this much all those other times I broke my arm." he complained.

"You're just getting old," she smirked.

"Am not!" Kendall pouted.

"You baby!" Jo chuckled, and Kendall was silent the rest of the ride home.

**A/N: There we go guys, review? :)**


	14. Chapter 14: Out for her birthday

**A/N: I just wrote an awesome Lomille chapter :D this isn't it, but I'm so excited for it, so I'm gonna write the next one now, and try and write solidly. This chapter isn't that great (i feel like I say that with every chapter) but the next one (SPOILER!) is gonna reveal Mr Taylor's fate :)**

**Chapter 14: Out for her birthday **

"Ma ma ma!" Lacey called, rattling the bars of her crib, and Jo moaned, looking at the alarm clock on the bedside table; 6.00am. Even though Lacey was only a year old, Jo could have sworn the little girl knew it was her birthday. Jo tossed back the covers and went over to Lacey's crib and picked her up,

"Good morning, you," she smiled wearily.

"Hi!" it was all Lacey could say, besides 'ma', and it made Jo laugh.

Jo couldn't believe how excited the little girl was this early in the morning.

"Is it a special day?" Jo asked, perking up; Lacey's excitement was contagious. Lacey nodded her head vigorously and Jo giggled walking into the living room setting the little girl down beside the couch, where Kendall had been sleeping the past few days. "Be gentle with your daddy, OK?" she whispered, and Lacey hit Kendall's good arm,

"Hi!" she yelled into his ear, and he awoke with a start.

"What the h-i, Lacey!" he corrected himself "How's my special 1 year old?" he asked, putting out his hand for her to grab, and she laughed.

"Morning, birthday girl!" Carlos said as he, James and Logan appeared out of their bedroom and sat along the other side of the couch. Lacey's smile lit up as she spotted her three uncles, and she toddled over to Logan, who pecked her head.

"I can't believe it's been a year," Jo sighed, taking Kendall's hand in hers.

"I know," Kendall smiled "it just sucks that I can't be there to help, ya know?"

"Don't worry," Jo smirked "I'll bring you some cake."

"Thanks," Kendall smiled as Jo leaned down to kiss him.

Katie and Mrs Knight appeared out of their rooms at that moment, smiling.

"Happy birthday, Lacey baby!" Mrs Knight cried, picking up the little girl and held her close. "You ready for a day out with your uncles?" she cooed, and Lacey babbled something that sounded like 'yeah, yeah'. "Are you going to be OK setting up for the party, Jo?"

"Yeah, sure," Jo smiled "I'll call over the girls and, um, could you help, Katie?"

"Sure," Katie smiled.

"Alright, so boys, you take Lacey and have fun with her for the day, while Jo and the girls set up the apartment, and I go and buy a cake and some food." she handed Lacey to James, who picked her up and led the way out of the apartment, followed by Logan and Carlos.

"So, where first?" James asked the others.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving!" Carlos said "Can we get some breakfast?"

"Sure buddy," James smiled "Waffles?" Carlos nodded enthusiastically, and the boys made their way to the waffle place and got a booth towards the back of the restaurant .

"Carlos Garcia, James Diamond and Logan Mitchell?" a voice asked, and the boys all looked around, trying to find the owner. "Beverly Adams, of It Magazine, how are you all doing this morning?" a middle aged woman with shortcut, red hair and grey eyes said, shaking each boys hand harshly.

"Uh, we're really not here for interviews-" Logan began.

"Oh!" Beverly Adams said loudly as she spotted Lacey, who was sitting on Carlos' knee and looking around, confused "Who is this little angel?" she threw herself into the booth beside Carlos and cooed at Lacey, who shied away, nestling into her uncle's jacket and whimpering.

"She's-uh, a little shy," Carlos stuttered, shying away from the woman, who was leaning far too close to him for comfort.

"Oh!" she said again "This must me Kendall Knight's secret baby," something about the scathing way she said it made all three boys tense up, and Carlos shifted Lacey into the space between himself and Logan, where Logan put his arms around her protectively.

"Well, aren't you going to introduce me?" Beverly Adams asked, taking out her phone.

"Uh, no," James said "sorry," he smirked and led the way out of the booth, muttering to Carlos, "we'll find waffles somewhere else, buddy,"

"Don't worry about it," Carlos said, clutching Lacey to his chest "Let's go to the park, at least there's tons of people there, and no one can get photos of Little Lacey," he pouted, bouncing the little girl in his arms.

"You're really good with her," Logan said, and James nodded in agreement.

"So are you guys," Carlos told them "we're so lucky, ya know?"

"Why, because our best friend had a kid at 18?" James asked.

"No, because we're like a family. I mean, yeah it's not like mom, dad and a bunch of kids type family, but it works," he smiled, playing with Lacey's hair.

Jo and Katie were setting up streamers while Stephanie and Lucy were blowing up balloons, and Camille was cooking frozen miniature hot dogs, and pouring chips and dip into bowls at the counter, and Kendall? He was lying on the couch, doing nothing.

"Katie, be careful on that ladder," he warned as he watched her reflection in the TV screen.

"Don't worry, big brother," Katie called down "we're not all klutzes like you!"

"Ha, ha," Kendall said sarcastically.

Within the next hour, everything was set up, and everyone was inside the apartment, opening Lacey's presents while Kendall lay on the couch, watching.

"Hey, man," James sat at the end of the couch to talk to Kendall "your daughter's famous already, we were talked at in the Waffle Wagon, and they wouldn't leave her alone in the park, everyone wants to meet Kendall Knight's secret baby," he winked.

"Really?" Kendall asked.

"Yeah," James smirked "you better watch her with all those sleazy guys in Hollywood in the future, like Jett,"

"James, she's one!"

"You're never too young," James said mysteriously before getting up to help Lacey rip a particularly tough wrapping.

**A/N: Yeah, no good :/ anywho, now I shall start work on the next chapter :)**


	15. Chapter 15: The Note

**A/N: Hey, there dear people :) next chapter has arrived! Not much to say about this one, excrept that its kinda long and I wrote almost the whole thing on a piece of scrap paper :)**

**Chapter 15: The Note**

Kendall sat on the couch as Jo fetched fresh bandages from the medicine cabinet, and she came back, sitting on the edge of the couch.

"How much longer do we have to do this?" Kendall whined as Jo unwound the bandages.

"You big baby!" Jo smiled "It's not that bad for me, I get to see your abs every day,"

"Well, maybe you should return the favor," Kendall said, reaching over to pick up Jo's shirt.

"You know I don't have abs any more!" Jo chuckled, grabbing Kendall's hands and forcing him to pull down her shirt.

"Well," he murmured, sliding his hands onto her hips "you'll have to do something about that, won't you?" he winked and Jo scoffed.

"You have a baby and see how your body looks," she poked his arm.

"Well, you know I would," Kendall smirked "but there is the small factor that I am a guy,"

"Very funny," Jo said sarcastically "now, lift up your shirt,"

"Yes, ma'm," Kendall murmured seductively, slowly gripping the hem of his shirt and working it slowly up his torso.

"Kendall!" Jo hit his arm, chuckling slightly and fighting the urge to rip his shirt off him altogether. "That's not what I meant!" she pulled the bandages off his middle, and he winced as she ripped the tape off his skin.

Jo sighed; his normally toned and tight abdomen was covered in blueish purple splodges, and Jo ran her fingers gently over the muscles, caressing the bruises tenderly, transfixed at the the strong and beautiful, but pained vision in front of her. She blinked, shaking herself out of her state, and grabbed the bandages from behind her, holding the beginning of the material at his side, letting her grip slacken slightly as Kendall winced. She wound the bandage around his middle, her fingers skimming over his injured skin ever so gently as she reached the end of the material, and taped it together.

"Thanks," he murmured, putting his hand on her cheek.

"Anytime," she whispered, putting hers on top.

"I love you," he smiled "so much,"

"I love you, too," she mirrored his smile "always will," she leaned down to kiss him, putting her hands either side of him on the couch. She felt him deepen the kiss, and she pulled away "The doctor said take it easy," she smiled.

"I can't help it," he murmured his reply "I just love you so much," he kissed her again, beyond glad they were home alone. The quiet was short lived, however, because Carlos, James and Logan all burst into the apartment, talking loudly.

"Oh, sorry guys!" Carlos said, averting his eyes while Logan and James laughed.

"Carlos," Jo laughed "it's fine, I was just changing his bandages,"

"With your teeth?" James asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No!" Jo laughed "Why are you guys back, anyway? I thought you were at rehearsal,"

"Yeah, well, now we're not," Logan smiled. "Now, can you two stay apart long enough to get off the couch, so we can play some Bio Hazard Battle Blast?"

"Sure," Jo said, "I should probably let Lacey out of her crib, anyway," she gently pushed herself off Kendall, gathering up the dirty bandages and putting them in the bin before heading into the bedroom while Kendall attempted to sit up.

The boys had been playing for half an hour now, and it felt just like old times, before anything had ever changed.

There was a knock at the door, and Logan got up to answer it, taking an envelope from Bitters before coming back down to the couch as Kendall paused the video game.

"Kendall," Logan said slowly looking up from the envelope. "It's for you," he handed it to him and Kendall opened it, reading the letter as Logan, Carlos and James all leaned over and read over his shoulder.

"Do you guys mind?" he asked, getting up and going to sit at the counter. His eyes traveled down the paper, his stomach dropping even more the further down he got.

'_Dear Kendall,_

_You were right. I don't deserve to know your daughter. I would have liked to, but I don't deserve it, what I did was inexcusable. Jo's lucky to have you and your friends, and your mother is more of a mother than Bridget ever was to her. You're so lucky to have her, son, I'm so glad she turned out to be nothing like me or her mother. Jo will never forgive me for what I did to you, she's a lovely girl, but I went to far this time. I've got nothing in this town now, and before you blame yourself, don't even think about it, because this is my decision. _

_Tell Jo I died in a car crash or something, but let her read my obituary first._

_You aren't a boy, Kendall, no boy cares for his family that much. If anything, you're more of a man that I ever was. _

_Take care of my baby girl, and yours, raise her to be just as wonderful as her parents._

_Sincerely,_

_Mr Taylor._'

Kendall looked up from the envelope, at his three friends, who were all looking at him, patiently waiting for him to explain. He shook his head, his eyes flicking to the bedroom, were Jo was with Lacey, and handed them the note; they understood. The three boys read the note quickly and looked up, their expressions a mixture of shock and uncertainly.

"He's gonna-?" Carlos began quietly,

"Looks like he already has," Kendall nodded to the note in James' hands.

"What do we do?" Carlos asked.

"What he wants us to," Kendall sighed.

"You mean we're not gonna tell her?" James asked, eyes wide. Kendall shook his head,

"Not until she reads it for herself,"

"What if she finds out you knew?" Carlos asked.

"She won't trust you, anymore," Logan said "and relationships are nothing without trust,"

"Well, what am I gonna do, then?" Kendall ran a hand through his hair "If I tell her, then I'm betraying him, but if I don't tell her, then I'm betraying her, right?"

"Yeah," Logan said slowly "but if you don't tell her, you can't let her know you know, that way you won't be betraying her,"

"Yeah, but then he'll be betraying a dead guy," Carlos said nervously "and, I mean, what happens if you betray a dead guy?"

"Nothing!" Logan said "Just go get rid of this," he handed the note to Kendall "and just don't let Jo know you know,"

"Don't let me know you know what?" Jo asked, appearing in the doorway to the bedroom. There was a pause as Kendall looked around at the guys,

"That your dad's passed," Kendall sighed.

"What?" tears appeared in Jo's eyes and her voice shook. Kendall handed her the note, and she began to read, her eyes growing wider and more teary as she did.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered, reaching out to take her hand, but she drew away from him, opening the door to the apartment and running out, leaving it wide open.

* * *

Jo ran from the apartment, unsure where she was going until she reached the familiar door of apartment 4J, knocking gently, the door opened to reveal Camille, Lucy and Stephanie, their welcoming expressions turning to concern as they took in her appearance.

"Can I stay with you guys for a while?" she asked shakily.

"Of course!" Camille exclaimed "What happened?" she asked, putting her arms around Jo and leading her into the apartment and onto the couch, Lucy and Stephanie close behind. Jo couldn't take it anymore;

"My dad's -dead!" she sobbed, burying her face in her hands "He killed himself because he felt bad about he felt bad about what he did, and he s-said I would never forgive him! It's all my fault!" she cried.

"Shh," Camille hushed while Stephanie rubbed Jo's back.

"It's not your fault," Camille said gently.

"Yeah," Stephanie added "you were right not to forgive him, what he did was cruel and wrong, and whatever could have done would have been so much worse,"

"By the sounds of it," Lucy said "this was what he wanted to do, and even if you'd known about it, you wouldn't have been able to stop him from doing it anyway."

"Lucy's right," Camille said "I know you don't wanna hear any of this, but I also know you'd never forgive him or yourself if he's gotten mad and violent again, something happened to Lacey or Kendall,"

"You're right," Jo said, her voice still shaking "but he's my dad! And he had the right to be mad at us, if I hadn't gotten pregnant, he-"

"Josephine Taylor!" Camille snapped "You can't berate yourself for having Lacey, just because your dad didn't approve! She is the best thing that happened to you, you said it yourself! And I won't let you criticize yourself about it!"

"You're right," Jo sniffled, resting her head on Camille's shoulder.

"Sorry, honey," Camille replied as Jo sobbed softly.

**A/N: there we go guys, I'm not sure when the next chapter will ex be because I'm pretty busy this week, and then i go back to school, but I'll do my best to make it soon, k?**


	16. AN: Apologies and a sneak peek

**A/N: Hey, guys! WOW it's been a while, so sorry about that, but swear I'll update this weekend cause school started back today (ugh!) so I'm a little busy, plus I'm reading Little Hollow for the third time, so wish me luck! **

**I've written like up to chapter 20, but it's handwritten, so really don't wanna type it up, but I will, cause I love you guys :) also I've written a later angsty Lomille chapter so look out for that :)**

**I suppose I probably should put some type of writing on here so it doesn't get deleted, so I'll give you shuts a bit of sneak peek of what's to come :) **

Kendall paused in his pacing, staring at a spot on the floor, thinking "If I told you something," he said slowly "would you help me with it, and not make fun of me?"

"Dude," James smiled "we're your best friends, we're gonna make fun of you, anyway, so shoot," Kendall sighed.

**A/N: I know it's short but I don't wanna give away anything, also I really hope it's not corny, I kinda think it is, but it's what I've had planned for ages :) I'll give you a sneak peek of the Lomilleness now just for fun :)**

"Listen, something's not right; you've been quiet ever since I got home, what's the matter?"

"Promise me you won't be mad?" she asked, looking up at him with teary eyes.

"I can't promise that," Logan said gently, and Camille's heart sank "not when I don't know what you're going to say." he took her hand "but I can promise that I won't lay a hand on you, or yell at you, alright?"

**A/N: A bit longer, but still not giving away anything :) so hopefully that'll tide you guys over until Saturday, if any of you are still actually reading this story :) **


	17. Chapter 16: If I told you something

**A/N: Hey, guys, so I was reading some of your comments at lunch today, and you all seemed really excited, so I thought I'd update just for you :) **

**Chapter 16: "If I told you something..."**

"Where's Jo?" Kendall asked for what must have been at least the tenth time "She's been gone all day!"

"Maybe she just needed some time to herself," Logan said "remember when my dad died?" Logan's father had been in a car accident when he was 13 years old, about to start middle school. The other guys had been all excited about the first day back, but Logan had been quiet and closed up for the whole week. James, Carlos and Kendall learned later that, that night, Logan and his mother had gone to visit him in the hospital, to find that the doctors predicted he wouldn't make it through the night. The next morning when they got the call, Logan had stayed home taking care of his mum all day.

"And mine," Kendall muttered, and Logan nodded silently; no one had mentioned Kendall's dad, or his passing, since James had suggested his as a baby name over a year ago; Kendall was so close to his dad, and none of the guys could bear to upset him by talking about it, so they just let Kendall open up to them whenever he wanted to.

"Is there gonna be a funeral?" Carlos asked suddenly from the couch.

"Carlos!" James and Logan scolded him, hitting him in the chest from either side.

"No, he's right, guys," Kendall mused "I should ask Jo what she wants." there was a few moments of silence, while Kendall paused in his pacing, staring at a spot on the floor, thinking "If I told you something," he said slowly "would you help me with it, and not make fun of me?"

"Dude," James smiled "we're your best friends, we're gonna make fun of you, anyway, so shoot," Kendall sighed.

"I wanna propose to Jo," he heard Logan gasp and choke as James thumped his back.

"Propose to her?" Carlos repeated.

"Yeah," Kendall said "I want us to get married," he glanced at Logan, who was wearing a disapproving glare, and he folded his arms as Kendall turned to talk to him. "I know it's sudden, but I really wanna show her that, even though she's lost her her freedom, her childhood, and now her dad, that she'll always have me, that I'll never leave her for as long as she'll have me."

"You're only nineteen!" Logan protested, standing up.

"I know," Kendall told him "but I'm almost twenty, so is Jo, and Lacey's getting older; I want her to grow up knowing that her parents weren't just two people who made a mistake-"

"She won't think that! You-" Logan interrupted.

"I know, but this way she'll know we're a real family." he continued and Logan sat back down on the couch.

"So, when are you planning to drop this bombshell on her?" Logan asked, and Kendall sighed.

"Logan, please don't be mad! I know you don't approve, but I really need you, all of you," he looked at the other two "on my side."

"Fine!" Logan huffed.

"Thanks, man!" Kendall smiled "I wanna do it tomorrow," he told them.

"OK," James clapped his hands and rubbed them together, standing up "then we gotta get you a ring!" he grabbed Kendall's arm and began to drag him out of the apartment "you two coming?" he called back.

"Someone's gotta take care of Lacey," Logan replied, raising and eyebrow at Kendall.

"Oh, right! Sorry!" he called "Thanks, guys! So," he turned to James "where to first?"

"Lucy," he proceeded to stride down the hallway to the elevators "she'll know what to get, and I haven't seen her all day," he winked, and Kendall chuckled as James stepped out of the elevator, striding up to the girls' apartment and knocking on the door "Hey!" he greeted Camille as she opened the door "Is Lucy in?"

"Sure," she replied, turning to call into the apartment "Lucy! James is here! You know Jo's here, right?" she told Kendall "you wanna see her?"

"He'll see her soon," James cut Kendall off as he opened his mouth to speak "Lucy!" James smiled as his girlfriend emerged from the apartment "Could we borrow you for a couple hours?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," she gave Camille an uncertain look as she pecked James' cheek. "Where are we going?" she hissed to Kendall, who shrugged as James bid Camille goodbye and led the way down the hall and into a deserted corridor.

"Kendall wants to propose to Jo tomorrow," James said frankly, and Kendall felt himself go red "so; we need your help picking a ring?"

"No, it's OK, Lucy really. It was a dumb idea, forget it," he babbled, but Lucy held up a hand to stop him.

"Shut up," she said bluntly "it's a good idea, now, let's go." she led the way back to the elevators, down to the lobby and out to the parking lot, where James unlocked Mrs Knight's rental car, and they all piled in , Kendall somewhat reluctantly.

"You're gonna need these," she handed James and Kendall a pair of sunglasses and a hat each as they pulled into the shopping centre parking lot. "People are gonna recognize you."

"Who wouldn't recognize the face?" James pulled his signature face, complete with hand gestures, and Lucy smiled.

"I didn't recognize it at first," she said "anyway, we gotta head straight to the jewellery store, get what we what, then get out, we don't want this getting out into the media,"

"But I don't know what I want!" Kendall said.

"Then, you're gonna have to decide quickly, aren't you?" Lucy led the way into the building and straight into the jewellery shop,"OK," she turned to James and Kendall "You two stay here, look at watches or something, and I'll show you different rings, and once you've picked one, Kendall, I'll come over and you hand me the money so I can pay,"

"And what do _I_ do?" James asked.

"You stand here and look pretty," Lucy replied, winking before turning on her heal and marching to the ring shelf.

"Well, I _can_ look pretty," James replied, flipping his hair as Kendall sighed.

"Come on!" Lucy hissed, coming over to Kendall and James "Make up your mind! I must have picked up at _least_ a dozen rings! The chick thinks I'm nuts!"

"I'm sorry!" Kendall whispered "None of them look right! Maybe I should go and look," he pulled his hat firmly in his head, and adjusted the reading glasses Lucy had given him for inside, and made his way to the glass covered shelf, gazing down at the rings.

"Excuse me," he flagged down the shop assistant, "could I take a better look?" the assistant nodded curtly and opened the cabinet, muttering something like, "Let me know when you're done," before stalking back to her desk and disappearing behind her computer screen.

"Pick a winner?" James asked after ten more minuted.

"No!" Kendall sighed "None of them are right! They don't feel perfect, like, you know when you first kissed Lucy, and you knew she was the one?" James nodded "And you felt on top of the world? Like nothing could ever bring you down?" he nodded again "That's what it should feel like, but none of these do,"

"What about this?" James asked, holding up a gold ring with diamonds inlaid in pearl around the band.

"James," Kendall breathed, his stomach doing backflips as he tried to keep his voice steady.

"What? Is it wrong? Oh, sorry man, I'll put it back—"

"No!" Kendall croaked "It's perfect,"

"I know," James smirked "I was just testing you,"

"Yeah, sure," Kendall smiled "now, give it here," James did so, and Kendall felt his stomach pinwheel, and a huge grin spread across his face.

"How do you plan to pay for this?" James asked closing the cabinet.

"With my last pay check," Kendall replied, handing over the ring at the counter, and taking out his wallet.

"Excellent choice," the worker said dully, putting the ring into a box and charging it to Kendall's credit card.

"Have a nice evening!" James called cheerfully to the worker, who rolled her eyes as Kendall smirked.

"_Finally!_" Lucy said when they found her by some punk-rock clothing shop, looking at ripped leggings. "So, let me see!" she said, and Kendall opened the box, smiling as she gasped. "Kendall, that's amazing! She's gonna love it! Pearl's her birth stone!"

"I know," Kendall smiled sheepishly.

"What do you mean you know?" James asked "I know!" I picked it!"

"Why would you listen to James?" Lucy asked jokingly "he has _no_ sense of style!" James let out a little shriek.

"No sense of style?" he cried "I'll give you no sense of style!" he growled at he advanced upon her, grabbing her around the waist and making her shriek, then instantly put her hand over her mouth, were James kissed it.

"Ugh!" Kendall groaned "Do you two have to do that here?"

"Sorry," James chuckled, taking Lucy's hand and leading her to the car.

**A/N: Short chapter, I know, but I gave up homework for this, so be grateful :) Also I feel like I'm kinda going birth, death, marriage if that makes sense so tell me if its shitty, I don't mind :)**


	18. Chapter 17: What do you think?

**A/N: Hey guys :) so I made a mistake, I shouldn't have cut off the last chapter were I did, because now I have this mini chapter, that I can't add to the next one, because then I'd have a gigantic chapter :) so now I have a stupid little chapter, which may or may not be a double update, depending on how much I can write at lunch today. **

**Also, please remind me not to handwrite my chapters, it's a pain! Ahh we get a new BTR this weekend :) eek! Anywho, I need to shut up :P**

**Chapter 17: What do you think?**

"Wow," Carlos and Logan said as Kendall showed them the ring after he and James had returned home.

"She's gonna love it, man," Logan smiled, patting Kendall on the back.

"Thanks," Kendall smiled, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment "but you should give props to James, he's the one who picked it,"

"Seriously?" Carlos chuckled "James picked it?"

"Why is that so hard to believe, huh?" James asked.

"It's not, it's just-" Carlos paused "wow!"

"Are you gonna tell your mom and Katie before tomorrow?" Logan asked, and Kendall's stomach dropped, as if he had missed a step going downstairs; he hadn't even thought about telling them!

"Yeah, I guess I'll tell them at dinner,"

Dinner came l go quickly, and before Kendall knew it, they were all seated around the table, eating quietly, and James was persistently prodding Kendall's elbow with his own, willing him to make the announcement.

"Uh, mom? Katie?" he said nervously, standing up "Uh, I gotta tell you guys something,"

"Sure, honey," Mrs Knight smiled, and an uncertain knot formed in Kendall's stomach "go for it,"

"Uh, OK," Kendall tried to smile; it wasn't that he wasn't sure of what he was doing, he was just so scared of how they'd react; he couldn't disappoint them again. The image of him and Jo telling them about Lacey suddenly appeared in his mind, and he pushed it away, trying to ignore the tears that his mother had tried to ignore in his mind's eye."well, um, I've been doing a lotta thinking and, well, uh," what was he doing?! He was never nervous! Yet here he was, stuttering away and trying not to cave under his mum's encouraging smile! He took a deep breath, "I want to propose to Jo," he finished was long pause, and Mrs Knight and Katie, silent with shock, simply stared at Kendall, who faltered under their gaze.

"Kendall-" Mrs Knight began gently, her voice shaky.

"Just here me out," he held up both his hands in front of him to stop her, lowering them slightly as he continued to talk, gradually gaining confidence. "I know you're gonna say I'm too young, but I don't care. I'm sorry, mom, but I don't care how old I am, I'm always gonna love Jo, and I need her to see that, especially now. And I also want Lacey to grow up knowing that she has a real family; I don't want people asking her why she has a composite name, or why they weren't married when they had her, she needs to grow up just like everyone else, and I wanna do all I can to make that happen." Kendall finished, sitting down, and his mother sighed,

"What do you think, Katie?" she asked, and Katie hesitated,

"Can I see the ring?" she looked over at her big brother, and Kendall pulled the box from his pocket, handing it across the table. "It's beautiful!" Katie breathed.

"Well?" Kendall asked his mother "What do you think?"

"She's right," Mrs Knight said slowly, her eyes on the ring in Katie's hands "and so are you,"

"So you agree? I can do it" Kendall's heart rose.

"Honey, you don't have to ask my permission; getting married means that you're growing up, you don't need your mom's approval for everything anymore." she handed him back the box, smiling.

"But I wanted it," Kendall replied, shrugging, and Mrs Knight smiled even wider.

"You're going to have to keep this really quiet," she said warningly, but Kendall could tell she was excited.

"I know," he began.

"When are you gonna do it?" Katie burst out excitedly.

"Tomorrow," Kendall smiled at his family, relieved that they were on his side.

**A/N: Eh, as I said, I'm not really happy with this chapter, it's just kinda, nothing :( anyway, the next chapter, if my calculations are correct, contains some Lacey/Daddy-ness and we find out what happens when Kendall pops the question :)**

**You guys all seem so excited about the Lomille-ness in the future, so I'll give you all another sneak peek :**

"Hey," the doctor smiled "don't worry, alright? The chances of something going wrong are very small,"

"Like, once in a lifetime?" Camille blurted.

"Camille," the doctor said dismissively, and Camille's heart sank "don't think about it, alright? You'll only make yourself feel worse." she was right, Camille decided; there was no point in getting freaked out over something she didn't even know about, and besides, that 'once in a lifetime' saying was Jo and Kendall's thing, there was no need for her to think that way.

**A/N: A bit longer this time I think :) also, this chapter's like way in the future, just letting you know :)**


	19. Chapter 18: According to plan

**A/N: Double update, my dears, as promised :) xoxo**

**Chapter 18: According to plan**

Kendall awoke at dawn the next morning, flinging open his wardrobe to choose the perfect outfit; a pale green shirt, grey jacket and his lucky grey vans; Kendall had had those shoes since he was in middle school and, miraculously, they had grown with his feet. He wore the for almost everything, and every time he did, things always went his way. Kendall wasn't suspicious or anything, they were just his favourite shoes.

He made his way silently out of his room, so as not to wake Lacey, and into the kitchen where he made a bowl of cereal and ate it quietly, heading into the bathroom to brush his teeth and his fix his hair. After ten minutes of brushing and re-brushing his hair, Kendall finally lay down on the couch to find that it was only 6.30am. He sighed as he reached for the remote; this was going to be a long morning.

* * *

After a few minutes of mindlessly flipping through channels on the TV, Kendall decided to try and beat the high score on the arcade games, then take a turn on the swirly slide, but again, that was short lived, and Kendall sound himself collapsing in the couch, chuckling; he never thought anyone would get bored in apartment 2J! Lacey began to cry at that moment,

"Dadda! Dadda!" and Kendall, glad for something to do, went to pick up his daughter, rubbing her hack to calm her down.

"You hungry?"

"Yah!" she said, making Kendall smile; she almost had the hang of 'yeah'.

"Hmm," Kendall said as he sat her in her high chair and made his way to the fridge "you want some peas?"

"No!" that one she had the hang of.

"Carrots?" Kendall suggested.

"No!" she shook her head stubbornly.

"Apple?"

"No!" she began to giggle now, and Kendall could feel himself beginning to smile, too.

"Then what do you want?" he asked.

"Ceweal!" she called.

"Shh!" Kendall put his finger to his lips to hush her, and smiled proudly as she did she same,

"Shh!"

"Would your mommy let you have cereal?" Kendall asked her.

"Yah!" she said, even though she was shaking her head, her blonde hair flopping around as she did so.

"Alright, if you say so," Kendall smiled, pulling out the cereal and milk, and putting them both into her little pink bowl, mixing and prodding them to make a soft, gooey mixture before handing it to her, and watching her take tiny mouthfuls, transferring the food neatly to her mouth without spilling a drop.

"Aren't you a clean girl?" Mrs Knight smiled as she appeared in the kitchen, patting Lacey's head gently and hugging Kendall "you know, when your daddy was little, he used to be so messy! He threw his food everywhere, and guess who had to clean it up," she asked.

"You!" Lacey said, giggling.

"Yep! Your daddy was a messy boy!"

"Mom!" Kendall groaned as Lacey giggled, and he collected her empty bowl, putting it into the sink,

"What time are you going to Jo's?" Mrs Knight asked.

"Around ten," Kebfall replied, taking Lacey from her chair and putting her on the floor, where she toddled off to her toys and proceeded to throw them around the apartment.

"Then why are you up so early?" she asked.

"Uh," Kendall said, checking his watch; 7.30 "'cause I had to get ready," he lied, faltering under his mother's stare "OK! You got me, I couldn't sleep! I just want everything to be right, you know?" he said, sighing.

"And it will be," she assured "don't worry, honey, everything will go according to plan.

* * *

9.30 rolled around, and before Kendall could blink, he was double checking his hair and putting the ring box in his pocket,

"Good luck, buddy!" James smiled as he patted Kendall on the back.

"Yeah," Carlos added "what could possibly go wrong?" Kendall stiffened nervously, and there was a sharp "Carlos!" from everyone in the apartment.

"You got this, buddy," Logan said encouragingly.

"Thanks," Kendall smiled, hitting Logan's shoulder gently before turning to Katie.

"Good luck, big brother," she said in a small voice.

"Thanks, baby sister," he replied, hugging her before turning to leave the apartment.

Kendall had never been so nervous in his life! Well, except for maybe for time he had gotten the news that Lacey was on the way, he thought as he stepped out of the elevator and approached Camille's apartment. He took a deep breath to calm himself as he knocked on the door, blowing it out in one and loosening himself up before Camille opened the door.

"Kendall!" she smiled, but it then became a suspicious look as she took in his appearance and the way his chest moved rapidly with his hasty, nervous breathing "What do you want?"

"To talk to Jo," Kendall said confidently "I-if I could, please?" he stuttered.

"Sure," Camille chuckled at his nervous state "come in,"

"Uh, could I talk to her privately?" he asked,

"Yeah," Camille said slowly "but just remember, we can everything through these doors," she warned at the turned back to get Jo.

"Hey," Jo said in a small voice "what's up? Is something wrong? Is it Lacey? What happened to her?" her voice was getting louder and higher as she panicked.

"Hey," Kendall said gently, rubbing her shoulder to calm her down. "nothing's wrong with Lacey,"

"Then, why would you-?"

"It's you I'm worried about," Kendall told her softly "Listen, I-I know a lot's been going on lately, with your dad and everything-no wait," Kendall shook his head slightly "before that! It started happening when you first found out you were pregnant,"

"What started happening?" Jo asked worriedly.

"You started losing things, Jo," he said "you've lost so much, sacrificed so many things for this, what we have now; our family, but I want you to know that we'll always be here. I'll never leave you Jo, and I promise I'm gonna do all that I can to make sure they don't take anything else away from you, or from us."

"What- I don't get it," Jo stuttered numbly, feeling like a total idiot:

"What I'm trying to say is," Kendall smiled at her confused response "Jo Taylor?" he got down on his knee, and Jo's stomach lurched as he pulled the box from his pocket and opened it. "Will you marry me?"

"Kendall, its beautiful!" Jo gasped, gazing down at the ring, and Kendall's heart rose. "But why are you asking me now?" she asked hesitantly, sure she didn't want to know the answer "We're only 19."

"Well," Kendall said, standing "I just thought that, since we have Lacey, we probably should-"

"Since we have Lacey?" Jo repeated "What, you think that now we have a baby, you're obliged to marry me, is that it?" Jo's temper was rising, but she couldn't help it.

"No! Don't be stupid-"

"Oh, so i'm stupid now?" Jo fired.

"You're being-"

"What, Kendall? Being what? Because apparently I'm so stupid that I can't make my own decisions! Well, watch this, wise one, I'm not going to fulfill your obligations as a teen dad, OK? I'm not going to marry you, Kendall Knight, not now, not ever!"

"We're not kids anymore!" Kendall yelled as Jo stormed away from him "It makes logical sense-"

"Maybe it does," Jo shot back at him "but not to me, ok? Logan's the logical one, why don't you marry him?" she screeched before slamming the door behind her, tears burning her eyes. She could hear Kendall storming away, back to his apartment, back to Lacey, and she struggled to fight the urge to go back there, to take her baby in her arms and to have Kendall hold her and tell her he was wrong, that he was sorry, that he loved her and he would wait until she was ready.

The truth was, Kendall was probably right; it did seem like the right thing to do, save Lacey growing up in a broken family. Jo wanted to marry him, had it played out differently, she would have, but it was the way he'd said it, like Jo was being unreasonable. Jo sighed; at this rate, there was no way she was going to get back in Kendall's arms any time soon.

**A/N: Whoa! Well that was sooo fun to type up (!) but I did it :) and since you guys love sneak peeks, I have another :P**

****It had taken its toll on Logan, sure enough, but there was something about it that took Camille over the edge, that hurt her too much. That kind of hurt was irreversible, unforgettable, it was the kind of hurt you avoided thinking about until you had nothing else to think about, the kind that engulfed you and choked you until you we're sobbing so hard you couldn't breathe, and you were begging for mercy. It was times like these that you needed someone to hold you and tell you everything was alright, but she had no one; Logan had closed in on himself after hearing the news. He had tried to be strong, for Camille, but he couldn't do it any more...

**A/N: There you go my dears :) hopefully this chapter doesn't suck to much, and Jo's not too out of character :/ are you all pumped for the Lomille chapter? I know I am :)**


	20. Chapter 19: Gotta get her back

**A/N: Well, I made it through the first week of term 4, yay! And more importantly, I've made it two weeks with out a new BTR! Yay! OK, so you guys seemed to not hate that last chapter, so now I have another one :) this one has a bit of Kucy in it, cause I can :P enjoy!**

**Chapter 19: Gotta get her back**

Jo slammed the door behind her, tears streaming down her face as she leaned against it, her face in her hands.

"Josie?" Camille asked gently, putting her hand on Jo's shoulder as Stephanie came up behind.

"What did you say?" Lucy asked, a knowing half smile on her face.

"You knew?" Jo whispered, looking up from her hands.

"Of course I did!" Lucy smiled "Where do you think I was all of yesterday afternoon? I was getting that!" pointed to Jo's empty finger, dropping her hand when she realized "Please tell me it doesn't fit or something, tell me you said yes!"

"What are you talking about?" Stephanie asked as Camille rubbed Jo's shoulder gently.

"H-he proposed," Jo hiccoughed.

"What?" Camille asked loudly "Oh, God, proposed what? Please tell me he didn't-"

"He asked me to marry him," Jo said in a small voice.

"What did you say?" Stephanie asked, putting her hands over her mouth.

"N-no," Jo wiped at the pointless tears that had begun to sting her eyes again.

"What? Why?" Lucy demanded, receiving a glare from the other two, but Jo could tell they wanted to know, too.

"Was it the way he did it?" Camille asked.

"No, no, the way he did it was perfect! He was sweet, and romantic and he told me he loved me-and I wanted to say yes! But then we got in a stupid fight about why, and now I don't know what to do!" she cried, and Camille and Stephanie pulled her into a hug, stroking her hair and rubbing her shoulders to comfort her.

"Don't worry, Josie, everything's gonna be fine," Camille hushed as Lucy slipped out the door.

Lucy was fuming when she reached apartment 2J and rapped on the door.

"What happened?" she demanded of Logan when he answered the door.

"Lucy!" James appeared beside Logan, pecking Lucy's cheek before letting her into the apartment as Logan tried to answer her.

"Where's Kendall?" she demanded, looking around the apartment to see Carlos emerge from the swirly slide with Lacey on his lap.

"In his room," James replied simply. "he flung open the door about a half hour ago, stormed in there and shut himself in."

"Do you know what happened tonight?" Logan asked "he seems really mad, but he won't talk about it,"

"Let me talk to him," Lucy said, and she made her way into Kendall's room, shutting the door with a bang behind her. Kendall was sitting on the edge of his bed, ripping up pieces of paper into confetti-sized flakes and dropping them at his feet. "Hey," Lucy said.

"Hey," he mumbled, not looking up "Did they send you in?"

"No," Lucy said abruptly "listen," she sat beside him on the bed. "Jo's really upset about to tonight." her tough demeanor melted slightly as she mentioned her friend.

"Why should she be?" Kendall asked darkly lI'm the one who should be upset, humiliated by my girlfriend, who I thought loved me back!"

"She _does_ love you!" Lucy assured him "More than anything! She wanted to say yes to you, Kendall!"

"She did?" he looked up at Lucy's words.

"Yes! But then it escalated, and you ended up fighting! I know she doesn't want to fight with you, Kendall, and I know to don't either! She wants the same thing you do, she wants you all to be a family! And she's ready, she just needs her boyfriend back," she finished gently "she misses you,"

"I miss her too," Kendall's voice cracked as he spoke "so much," he whispered.

"Then you need to show her, you've gotta get her back."

"Now?" Kendall asked, getting up,

"No," Lucy told him gently, putting her hand on his shoulder to push him back down. "Uh," she took her hand off his shoulder, avoiding his eyes as he looked at it. "give her some time to, uh cool down, then tell her,"

"Thanks, Lucy," Kendall pulled her into a hug and she flushed; she hadn't forgotten what happened between them when she had first moved to the Palm Woods.

"Any time," she pecked his cheek gently before getting up "For the record," she turned back at the door "I would have said yes,"

**A/N: Blah, I don't like this one very much, it's too short :'( but I shall update tonight, because it's Friday :) and the next chapter I can say is Jendall'y :)**


	21. Chapter 20: Taking a break

**A/N: Hey there :) update time again! By the way I stuffed up, this isn't the Jendall chapter, the next one is :) so here we go with another of those chapters that's just like, "Hey I'm here! But I'm totally useless!" **

**Chapter 20: Taking a break**

"So?" James asked as Lucy shut Kendall's door and came to sit on his lap on the couch, and Carlos and Logan came to sit and listen,

"Well, he asked her, and she was going to say yes, but then she asked him why, and apparently there was some huge fight, and she said she'd never marry him,"

"What?" James demanded "but he spent, like, his entire paycheck on that ring!"

"Who cares about that!" Carlos said, and James let out a tiny shriek, making Lacey giggle in Carlos' arms "Is Jo OK?"

"Well, last time I was with her, she was with Camille and Stephanie, and they were headed for the tissues and the ice cream, but Kendall's determined to get her back, even if she doesn't marry him, she needs him, and maybe she'll say yes someday,"

"Yeah," Logan said "Kendall's been down all week, he thinks it's his fault Jo left, because he told her about her dad. He-" Logan lowered his voice "he got a note from Jo'a dad before he killed himself, apologizing for everything, and telling him not to tell Jo he was gone, and let her find out for herself, but he thought it was wrong to keep it from her, so he told her."

"And then she came to us," Lucy mused.

"We gotta fix this," James said, and Lucy nodded.

"Maybe not," Logan said thoughtfully "If Kendall's willing to do all he can to get Jo back, and he's got a strong enough reason, he might be able to do it on his own."

"Yeah," Carlos agreed "he loves her so much, and he really wants her back, so I don't think he's gonna need our help."

"You're right," James nodded "he misses her like crazy, so does Lace," he nodded to the little blonde girl, who had scrambled off Carlos' lap and was now pulling on the hem of Lucy's jeans.

"Up," she begged.

"Up, what?" Lucy asked:

"Up, pwease," she said, gazing up at Lucy, who smiled.

"Atta girl," she said, picking Lacey up and on to her lap.

"Uh, ow," James said "why do you both have to sit on James?"

"Cause we love James," Lucy smiled, kissing him before getting off his lap and sitting beside him as Lacey nuzzled into her chest.

"She really missed Jo," Logan said as Lacey grabbed Lucy's hand Bd held it firmly in her own,

"We'll, maybe I should take her back with me, and we can take care of her for a bit, and that way Kendall won't have to be constantly reminded of Jo."

"They do look alike." Logan nodded "OK, you've got stuff to feed her, right?"

"Yeah," Lucy replied "and you guys can bring clothes and stuff whenever,"

"OK," James said "Lacey? You wanna stay with the girls and mommy for a while?"

"No," Lacey said, nodding.

"Yeah?" Lucy asked, nodding.

"Yah!" the little girl responded, nodding excitedly.

"OK!" Lucy put on an overly excited voice "Better say bye-bye to the boys!"

"Bye-bye, Jame!" Lacey clambered across Lucy to sit on James, who gave her a hug and kissed the tip if her head.

"See ya later, kiddo," he smiled as she slipped off his lap, toddling over to Logan, who smiled and picked her up.

"Bye-bye, Logan!" she said, mispronouncing the 'l'.

"Bye-bye, honey," he held her to his chest for a moment before letting her climb over to get to Carlos.

"Bye-bye, Carwos!" she said with a slight lisp as Carlos pulled her into a giant bear hug.

"Later, princess," he said "give Stephie a big hug for me," he smiled.

"OK!" Lacey slipped off Carlos' lap as Katie walked into the room.

"Gonna say bye-bye to Auntie Katie, too?" Lucy asked.

"Yah!" Lacey ran as fast as she could over to Katie, who scooped her up and hoisted her onto her hip.

"Where are you off to, little miss Lacey?" Katie asked.

"Mommy!" Lacey said proudly "Bye-bye, Auntie Katie," she squirmed in Katie's arms, trying to get down.

"Hey!" Katie said, pouting "doesn't Auntie Katie get a hug?"

"Sowry," Lacey wrapped her little arms around Katie's neck and squeezed her "bye-bye!"

"Bye, Lacey!" Katie smiled as she put the little girl down on the ground, and she ran awkwardly over to Lucy.

"Go now?" she asked, climbing back onto the couch and looking up at Lucy, who smiled.

"Hang on, little lady," Lucy chuckled "I've gotta say bye-bye to James," she leaned down to kiss him.

"Bye-bye, Jame!" Lacey said loudly as James and Lucy kissed.

"I guess I'm saying bye," Lucy chuckled as she pulled back from James "I'll see you guys later." she called as she shut the door.

"Honey, I'm home!" Lucy called as she opened the door to the girls apartment.

"Honey, I home!" Lacey called in imitation, and Lucy smiled.

"Hey," Camille met them at the front door "hi, Lacey baby! What are you doing here?" she took Lacey from Lucy's arms and hugged her.

"Mommy!" Lacey said.

"She's gonna stay with us for a while," Lucy said.

"Oh, OK!" Camille said enthusiastically to Lacey "wanna go find mommy?"

"Yah!" Lacey said, and Camille put her down, turning to Lucy.

"Did you check with Kendall about this?" she asked suspiciously.

"He needs a break," Lucy said dismissively "the guys'll tell him she's here,"

"A break from his own daughter?" Camille asked, lowering her voice.

"She looks so much like Jo," Lucy said quietly "and the guys said he's been blue all week without her, he needs a distraction,"

"Alright," Camille said skeptically as Jo came into the living room.

"Why is Lacey here?" she asked, clutching the little girl to her chest as she approached Lucy and Camille.

"She missed you," Lucy said "so I thought I'd bring her to stay with you, since it looks like you'll be staying here for a while, too!"

"Lucy!" Camille scolded, glaring.

"No, she's right," Jo sniffled and shook her hair out of her eyes, I just need a break." she set Lacey down and she toddled off to find Stephanie. "You need some help cleaning up dinner?" Jo asked Camille, who nodded, patting Jo's back as they made their way into the kitchen.

"He there, baby doll!" Stephanie cried as Lacey threw herself at her and wrapped her arms around Stephanie's neck as the older girl picked her up.

"From Carwos," Lacey said proudly as she squeezed Stephanie around the neck in a tight hug.

"Thanks, babe," Stephanie said "I love Lacey hugs!"

"I think it's time you went to bed," Lucy said as Stephanie handed Lacey over to her.

"Not tired," Lacey yawned.

"Oh, really?" Lucy chuckled "Say night-night."

"Night, Stephie," Lacey said.

"Sweet dreams, honey," Stephanie waved to Lacey, who slowly and sleepily waved back.

"Say night to Camille," Lucy said as she walked into the kitchen.

"Night, Camille," the little girl said sleepily, mispronouncing the 'l'.

"Night, little girl," Camille blew her a kiss from where she was standing at the sink.

"You want mommy to tuck you in?" Lucy asked.

"Yah," came Lacey's sleepy reply.

"Night-night, Lacey," Lucy handed her over to Jo, who kissed her forehead and took her off to bed.

"Aww!" Camille whined "I want one!"

Jo lay Lacey gently in the second crib that Stephanie had insisted they needed in the apartment, tucking her blankets tightly around her.

"Night-night, my little miracle," Jo whispered as Lacey yawned again, her tiny eyes fluttering shut "sleep well, honey," she gently pushed Lacey's hair out of her face before putting up the bar of the crib and turning to leave.

"Daddy?" Lacey called out.

"Daddy's not here right now baby," Jo said gently, switching off the light and shutting the door behind her.

**A/N: there we are, blegh, don't like this one either :/ anyways... Oh by the way, the Lomille chapters are ages away, just so you know, when they're old and married etc :) so you gotta wait :p**


	22. Chapter 21: Just coming to find you

**A/N: Wow! I really should spell and grammar check these things! Anyways, I'm really mad because I was just typing up this humungous Authors Note, and I accidentally hit the wrong button, and it went back to the previous page and I lost all my writing! GRR! Anyway, do you guys want me to keep doing sneak peeks? I've got one more up my sleeve, but I can always do more if you want me to :) WARNING: This chapter is like a massive AWW fest; well it was for me :)**

**REVIEWS (for, like, the first time in forever!):**

**Paula: I can't tell you that, it would ruin it for you :)**

**Marykateluvsu: Yeah, I'm a terrible person :P**

**Chapter 21: Just coming to find you**

Jo made her way back into the living room and sat down on the couch, putting her head in her hands and sighing.

"What's the matter?" Stephanie asked, sitting down beside her.

"I just put Lacey to bed, and she started calling out for Kendall, and I had to tell her he wasn't there, and—"

"And you miss him?" Stephanie guessed.

"Yes!" Jo burst out "Oh, God, I love him so much, I can't take being away from him anymore! I miss him so much, Stephanie!" she cried, tears stinging her eyes again.

"Then, go and tell him," Stephanie said, smiling.

"Now?" Jo asked "But it's 8.00!"

"So?" Stephanie asked.

"You're right! I've gotta go!" Jo got up, rubbing at her eyes roughly, and made her way quickly out the door. "Thanks, Stephie!" she called as she shut the door behind her.

Jo walked the familiar path to 2J quickly, but as she stepped out of the elevator and on to the second floor, she slowed down; what if Kendall didn't want to talk to her? What if he told her to take her stuff and leave? What if he wanted to keep Lacey and have nothing to do with Jo? What if—? Jo stopped as she collided with something hard, and she assumed it was the apartment door, but she looked up from, her shoes to see that it was—

"Kendall," she said breathlessly, looking into his deep green eyes that she's fallen in love with, what felt like yesterday, that were now filled with hurt and confusion and, Jo's heart did a backflip; love.

"Hey," he said, smiling at her "I was just—"

"Coming to find you," Jo finished in a soft voice.

"Yeah," he breathed.

"Me too," she smiled; so far, so good.

"Cool," he said awkwardly, the smile still on his face. There was a pause while Jo looked down at her finger nails.

"Listen, I've—"

"Got something to tell you," Kendall finished "yeah, me too."

"You go," Jo said.

"No, you go,"

"Uh, OK," Jo said as she looked down at her fingers again, suddenly nervous. "Um,"

"You wanna sit down?" Kendall asked, and Jo nodded, relieved for the extra time, and they both sat against the wall opposite Kendall's apartment.

"OK, well first, I want to apologize—"Jo began

"You don't have to,"

"Yes, I do," Jo insisted "because what I said was awful, I overreacted, and it wasn't true, because I do want to marry you, Kendall, someday, it's just that so much has happened in the last year and a half, I just really need things to stay the same for a while. I do love you, more than anything, and I love Lacey, too, and I want us to be a family one day, but I just need to feel like things are normal right now, please don't be mad." she didn't know why she said that, she knew Kendall wouldn't be mad at her, but it slipped out anyway.

"Why on earth would I be mad?" Kendall asked, and Jo looked away from him, embarrassed. She felt him gently push her chin with the back of his fingers so she was facing him, and he spoke, "I should be the one apologizing! I should have explained myself better before I asked you, all I said was since we have Lacey, and I let you think that I meant just because we were parents!"

"I shouldn't have—"

"You had every right to think that!" he told her earnestly "I should have told you that that wasn't what I meant! Jo, you've given up so much since you found out about Lacey, and I wanted you to know that I'm not going anywhere, and that you weren't ever going to lose me, or Lacey."

"You've given things up, too," Jo attempted, but Kendall scoffed.

"Like what? One song on one tour? You've lost practically everything, and you're not going to lose us, Jo, I promise. I want us to be a proper family one day, and I know you're not ready now, but if you decide that you are, just let me know, and I will be."

"Thanks," she said softly, resting her head on his shoulder.

"No problem," Kendall smiled, taking her hand in both of his own and playing with her fingers.

"That's where Lacey gets it from," Jo chuckled, watching him gently bend and move her fingers.

"It's fun," he said, smiling.

"Small things," Jo mused jokingly, and she felt Kendall jab her fingernail into the pad of her thumb.

"Ow!"

"You deserved that one," he chuckled.

"Kendall," Jo asked after a few moments of silence, looking up at him.

"Yeah?"

"That ring was really beautiful; you didn't get rid of it, did you?" Jo asked carefully, hiding the nervousness in her voice.

"No way," Kendall smiled "you know how much that thing cost me?" he joked, and Jo elbowed him in the stomach.

"That didn't even hurt!" he coughed "Can't get past my rock-hard abs!" he smiled, and Jo giggled, but then she sighed.

"Kendall?"

"Hmm?" he asked, his eyes closed.

"Are we in love again?" she asked in a small voice.

"You stopped loving me?" he looked down at her, and she shook her head, nestling into the spot between his head and his neck, where her head fitted perfectly.

"No," she whispered, closing her eye.

"Me neither," he replied, doing the same and leaning his head against the wall.

**A/N: Ready? One, two, three...AWWW! :P Well, I thought it was cute :) this took me about 4 hours to type up, and I don't even know why, anyways, sorry about that, but I planned to spend like the whole weekend working on each of my fanfics, but I took forever to do this one so, yeah, next time, k? :)**


	23. Chapter 22: Meeting Lacey

**A/N: Hey, guys, so I know I haven't updated in forever, and I'm super sorry! But I was sick on Friday, and I left my writing book at school, and I'm still kinda sick, and so I've been trying to get through all the homework everyone gave me to catch up, so I have a spear moment, now, on the bus, to update for you guys. Again, I'm so sorry guys! **

**By the way, I re-read my Lomille chapters this morning. I cried. Just thought I'd let you know what's in store.**

**Chapter 22: Meeting Lacey**

Neither Kendall or Jo mentioned to the others where they slept that night, and either did Carlos when he caught them at around 1 o'clock in the morning. He had been going out to get his midnight Fruit Smacker from the vending machine, when he tripped over what he realized was Kendall's leg. Carlos looked over as he got up to see Kendall and Jo, wrapped in each other's arms and sitting against the wall, fast asleep as they rested their heads on each other's shoulders. Carlos couldn't resist a smile as he left them alone and made his way down to the lobby, and when he returned after his snack an hour later, the two had gone, and Carlos smiled again as he saw them, still fully dressed, lying on their bed, fast asleep in each others arms, Kendall snoring softly. Carlos decided that he would spare them the embarrassment and ridicule from the others, and didn't bring it up at breakfast the next morning, although he was surprised that no one noticed that the pair were both wearing exactly what they had yesterday.

"Are you sure you guys can't take her?" Kendall asked after breakfast, as he shoved Lacey's stuffed bear into his duffel bag, along with his water bottle, deodorant and sweats to dance in.

"Sorry, Kendall," Jo said "I've got a big audition at nine, so does Camille, and Lucy and Stephanie are busy. What about your mom?"

"She took Katie to see some business man, I dunno."

"Oh, well, I'm sure she won't be too much of a bother, Kelly can watch her,"

"OK," Kendall said.

"I'll come and pick her up later," Jo pecked his lips in a goodbye kiss "Love you," she said as she patted Lacey's head before turning to head out the door.

"Love you, too," he called as she shut the door behind her. "Alright, princess." Kendall turned to face Lacey, who was playing with one of her dolls "you wanna spend the day with daddy?"

"Yah!" Lacey giggled as he picked her up,

"Now, if the boys would hurry up, we could get going!" Kendall smiled.

"Hurwy up, boys!" Lacey yelled, and Kendall chuckled.

"Yeah," Logan said, appearing in the hallway to the bedrooms "hurry up boys," he patter Lacey's head "have we got an extra today?"

"Yah!"

"Jo can't watch her, she's got a big audition, and everyone else is busy," Kendall explained as Carlos and James arrived at the door, both cooing to Lacey, who giggled.

"Let's go!" Carlos led the way out the door, down the elevator and out to the car that Gustavo had sent for them.

"Uh, what are we gonna do about Lacey?" Logan asked "We don't have a kids seat for her."

"She'll just have to sit on our laps," James said, pulling her onto his knee. "Drive carefully," he told the driver, who nodded and started the engine as Kendall's heart beat hard in his chest, and he tried to swallow the nervous lump in his throat.

"Be careful, James," he said shakily, and James gave a reassuring smile, tightening his grip around Lacey.

"Don't worry, man, I've got her,"

They made it to Rocque Records unharmed, and Kendall clutched Lacey to his chest protectively when James handed her over.

"As soon as we get home, I'm buying her a car seat," he told the guys shakily as they made their way inside.

"Dogs!" Gustavo said loudly as the boys walked into the studio, and Lacey gave a squeak of fright, nestling into her father's chest, her tiny first gripping the zipper of his jacket tightly "What was that?" Gustavo asked sharply.

"That was my daughter," Kendall explained, stroking Lacey's hair as she whimpered "she's a little scared, because you're talking so loud."

"Daughter?" Gustavo demanded.

"Yeah," Kendall smiled "the one who almost got me fired? The one that was born during one of our shows, so I had to go back to LA?" Gustavo looked blankly back at Kendall "The one you told me I had to get rid of?"

"Forget it," Gustavo said "Kelly?" H

he called, and she made her way into the room "Take this, uh-daughter, so the dogs can rehearse,"

"Daughter?" Kelly asked, looking around at the guys. "Oh! Kendall's baby! What was her name?"

"Lacey," Kendall said, handing a very reluctant Lacey over to Kelly.

"Daddy!" she cried, struggling in Kelly's arms.

"Hey, Lacey, baby, Daddy's right here." Kendall said gently "now, you be a good girl for Kelly, OK? Promise?"

"OK," she said, relaxing.

"Aww! Kelly cooed "You know what, Lacey?"

"What?"

"I think Gustavo might have some toys in his office," she smiled as the little girl's eyes lit up, and Kendall relaxed slightly "but you gotta say bye-bye to Daddy and the boys, and come with me, OK? Can you do that?"

"Yah! Bye-bye, daddy!" she said, waving.

"Bye-bye, honey," Kendall waved back, before Kelly took Lacey into the office,

"Dogs!" Gustavo said "go change into your sweats! Today, you're dancin'" they did so, and within the next half an hour, they were covered in sweat and were starting to smell. By the end of rehearsal at four, all of them were drenched in sweat, their clothes were damp and rancid, and they ached all over as they made their way to the bathrooms to get changed.

"Can you tell us why you and Mr X tried to kill us today?" Logan asked Gustavo when they met him in his office.

"Not yet, but I can tell you we've for somethin' pretty big in the works!" he said as Kelly came into the room, carrying Lacey, who had a plastic dinosaur clutched in her hands.

"Home time, little one," she said to Lacey, who shook her head.

"No!" she said stubbornly.

"Yeah," Kendall told her, smiling "come on!"

"No!" she said again "Dine-saur!"

"Yeah! You can take dinosaur with you!" he said, quickly and wordlessly confirming with Kelly, who nodded.

"OK!" Lacey said, hugging the dinosaur.

"Say thank you to Kelly for playing with you today," Kendall told her.

"Tank you Kewly!"

"Anytime, kiddo," she hugged Lacey before handing her over to Kendall.

"Thanks," he said "See you guys on Monday!" he called as the others all bid goodbye, and the boys made their way out to the car.

"How was your day, baby girl?" Carlos asked as he bounced Lacey on his knee.

"Good!" Lacey nodded, holding up her dinosaur.

"What other toys did you find?" James asked;

"Cars, an' aminals, an' twucks, an' dine-saur!" Lacey said happily, waving her dinosaur around.

"What about dolls?" Logan asked.

"No!" Lacey shook her head.

"Looks like your daughter's a little tomboy," James smirked at Kendall, who shrugged as he watched Lacey run her dinosaur over Carlos' knees, shouting 'raw!'

"Well, then she'll be able to convince Jo to let her play hockey," he smiled.

"Jo won't let her play hockey?" Carlos asked in disbelief.

"She said it's too dangerous," Kendall said, and all four of them burst out laughing.

* * *

"Hey, you!" Kendall said as he stepped into the apartment, the other guys close behind, all saying 'hey, Jo' as they passed "Weren't you coming to pick up Lacey up after your audition?"

"Ugh!" Jo groaned "I knew I forgot something! Sorry, Kendall, did you manage OK?"

"Yeah, no biggie; she spent the day with Kelly while we rehearsed, and she came home with a dinosaur," he said as he let Lacey down, and she ran over to Jo at the couch and showed her the dinosaur.

"Raw!" Lacey growled at her mother, who laughed.

"Your daughter's a tomboy!" Kendall teased.

"No she's not!" Jo pouted "She's my little princess, aren't you?" She asked Lacey, who shook her head.

"No!" she said stubbornly "Dine-saur!"

"Ha, ha!" Kendall said mockingly "Your daughter's a dinosaur!"

**A/N: There you go guys, I thought I had to update before I went to bed :)**


	24. Chapter 23: Bored

**A/N: I am a terrible person. Just thought I'd let you know. Not because of this chapter, but because of the Lomille chapters, I was literally on a being-evil-to-Logan high this morning, it was weird. Anyways, I'll not bother you with any of that now (unless you want another sneak peek, this is a double update, to just tell me in your review if you want me to sneak peek again). A quick question though; this fiction is going to be MASSIVE, but would it turn you guys away from reading it if I made it like a ton of chapters long and just kept going with like a few weeks' gap in between each event, or would you prefer that I just did a sequel when Lacey was little, then another completely new story when they get married, and have their first kids, and then another when something else happens? I feel like that option would be a pain, and I'd rather just let it be 100 chapters or however long its going to be (probably not 100, I might run out of ideas) but, yeah, what do you guys think?  
**SLIGHT SMUT WARNING**  
**

**Chapter 23: Bored**

"I'm bored!" Carlos said after the third round of Bio Hazard Battle Blast for the morning.

"Same here!" Logan agreed from his position of sitting upside down on the couch, his legs dangling over the back.

"So bored!" James said, his game controller falling from his limp hand as he lay on his stomach on the couch.

"And hot!" Kendall said, and James raised an eyebrow "I mean, it's hot in hear, let's go for a swim,"

"Can't," Logan sighed "Bitters banned us for a week after Lacey realized it wasn't a bathroom."

"We could go to the beach," Carlos suggested.

"Why, so Lacey can poop in the water and get us banned from there, too?" Logan asked.

"She's not even two yet," Kendall defended "she can't help it!"

"And Kendall will watch her this time," Carlos said, and Kendall nodded "come on guys, it'll be fun!"

"Well, I _do_ need to work on my tan," James said, flipping his hair and flexing his muscles.

"OK! Stop it, and I'll come!" Logan relented as James pushed his shirt sleeves back down.

"Yes!" Carlos pumped his fist in the air and raced off to his room, followed by James and Logan.

"Yo! Jo!" Kendall called to Jo, who was highlighting a script at the kitchen table.

"What?" she looked up, glad for a distraction.

"Wanna come with us to the beach?" he asked.

"Does it involve me highlighting this stupid script anymore?"

"No," Kendall replied, confused.

"Then, yeah," Jo shut the script and put down the highlighter "thank God for that!" she sighed happily "I'll go call the girls," she got up and went to search for her phone.

"OK, little lady," Kendall said as Logan returned, wearing a T-shirt, board shorts and thongs, topped off with aviator sunglasses and a splodge of zinc on his nose. "You stay here with—" he snickered "with Logan, while daddy gets changed,"

"What?" Logan asked.

"Nothing," Kendall chuckled as he headed into his and Jo's room.

"Dude, really?" James snickered as he came into the living room "Zinc?"

"I don't wanna get burned!" Logan said defensively. "I guess you haven't put any on at all?"

"Nope!" James said "Can't wear sunblock if you wanna get a tan!"

"Well, you should at least cover up," Logan said; James was wearing a singlet with his board shorts and thongs, and his aviators on. "You know how much it hurts when you get sunburnt on your shoulders?"

"Fine!" James said, dumping the duffle bag he was carrying at Logan's feet, and stormed back into his room, narrowly missing Carlos as he did so.

"What's his problem?" Carlos asked as he grabbed the sunscreen from his pocket and began to rub it over his shoulders and arms.

"Won't Stephanie want to do that?" Logan asked.

"Oh yeah!" Carlos exclaimed, rubbing at his arms and then on his board shorts. He was wearing a singlet with a half open hoodie on top, thongs, board shorts and his favourite black sunglasses.

"Happy now?!" James demanded, and Logan rolled his eyes; James was now wearing a different pair of board shorts and an open button up shirt over his bare chest.

"Sure, James," Logan said as Kendall appeared, wearing a button up t-shirt with a singlet underneath, over his board shorts and thongs, with his clear rimmed sunglasses.

"OK," he said, picking up Lacey "now we gotta get you ready, huh?" he took her into the bedrooms Jo came out, wearing a yellow bikini under her floral sundress, brown sandals, and her sunglasses on her head.

"They girls are on their way up," she told the guys, grabbing the sunscreen from the coffee table and rubbing it into the skin on her arms.

"Won't Kendall wanna do that?" Carlos asked, shooting a look at Logan, who only smirked in return.

"He's gotta make sure he puts it on Lacey," she said, taking the bottle in to Kendall as they heard at the door, and Logan got up to answer it.

"Hey," he greeted the girls as they came in.

"Hey," Camille said, pecking Logan's lips, and he smiled; she was wearing his favourite cherry lip gloss. Logan kept the kiss going, putting his hands on her bare waist; she had her checked button up shirt tied up above her belly-button, over her blue bikini, and low-cut mini shorts that sat just below her hip bone. Logan worked his hands down her waist until he hit her hip bone, running his finger along it as Camille gave a shudder.

"You're so beautiful," he murmured against her lips as his fingers travelled down the waistband of her shorts, he toyed with it, slipping one finger in, feeling her warm skin against his own.

Then, just as quickly, he removed his finger and broke off the kiss, smirking mischievously.

"Pick it up when we get home?" He asked her in a low, seductive tone.

"Maybe," she winked and headed into the living room. Logan sat down beside Carlos on the couch, and Camille sat on his lap, hooking her fingers into his V-neck and pulling it down slightly.

"Camille!" Lucy fake gasped from James' lap, where she sat across both his knees, her legs crossed at the ankles. "How un-ladylike of you!" she said, putting her hand over her heart as she feigned shock, but Camille noticed that the rest of the buttons on James' shirt were undone, and that Lucy's singlet strap was now hanging off her shoulder; she wore a grey tank top with a black floral design on the front over the top of her black bikini, her back Capri pants were folded to her knees, and her grey, ripped vans on her feet, with her black aviators down the front of her top.

"Guys," Carlos said as he played with Stephanie's hair "we can't do that kinda stuff here for much longer,"

"He's right," Stephanie said from where she was sitting on the floor, between Carlos' knees, pulling her purple checked dress further up her chest and untying the strap of her purple and black bikini and handing it to Carlos to tighten "Lacey's learned to walk, now, so we can't be sure if she's gonna walk in on us, we don't want her seeing anything,"

"What do you mean?" Camille asked.

"Like we didn't see you and Logan making out by the front door!" James smirked wickedly.

"I can't help it if I have the most beautiful girlfriend ever," Logan replied, kissing Camille's hand.

"Aww, honey," she cooed.

"Seriously?" James made fake retching noises as Kendall and Jo re-entered the room, Kendall carrying Lacey and Jo carrying what looked like a very full duffel bag.

"Ready?" Kendall asked "I called down to the lobby, and Bitters says we can take the Palm Woods van as long as Lacey doesn't dirty the pool anymore, which reminds me," he turned to Jo "did we grab all the stuff we need to change her?"

"I think so," Jo replied, checking the bag.

"Diapers?"

"Yep,"

"Powder?"

"Yep,"

"Wipes?"

"Yep,"

"We always need more wipes," he said, handing Lacey to Jo and dashing back into their bedroom.

"Where did that come from?" Camille asked "Wasn't Kendall really unorganized?"

"Yep," Jo smiled "but now he's more organized than me."

"What?" Logan asked "Kendall's not organized! He's one of the messiest people I know! Besides Carlos,"

"Hey! My stuff's organized!" Carlos said defensively.

"Yeah, In random piles all over the floor according to how much it stinks!" Logan said "So, where's all this organization come from? His room's actually neat!"

"Well, that part was me, but he's super organized when it comes to Lacey," Jo said proudly.

"Wow," Logan muttered as Kendall came back into the room, putting the wipes in Jo's bag before taking Lacey back and turning to the others.

"OK, now we're ready, let's go!" Stephanie, who was closest to the door, held it open as Kendall led the way out.

"Thanks, babe," Carlos said softly to Stephanie before taking her hand and following the others as she shut the door behind her.

**A/N: Sorry about the excess description and the Lomille smut guys, but that's what happens when I get bored :) Note, don't let Laura get bored :P Um, now I know I said this was a double update, but that was two days ago when I wrote the first author's note, so I'll see how I go. Pretty please, review? And If you could, please leave your opinion on what I should do (make it massive, or chop it up into mini fanfics), and also if you want more sneak peeks, leave a comment about that, and that would be lovely :)**


	25. Chapter 25: The Beach Day

**A/N: All I can say to you guys is that I'm really really sorry.**

**So much has been going on, and I'm going away for three weeks in a couple of days, so I'm afraid this will be a lone update. I could feed you all excuses as to why I haven't updated, like I lost a big chunk of the chapter and had to rewrite it, that I had exams, and that I only had half the chapter written until about ten minutes ago, but that wouldn't be fair, so I'm just going to give you guys this terrible chapter and pray you don't all hate me too much.**

**Chapter 24: The super awesome summer at the beach beach day**

By the time they reached the ocean, it was around lunch time, so Kendall and the boys took the van out to buy some lunch, while the girls found somewhere to set up the beach umbrellas and picnic rug. Camille chuckled as Jo set out Lacey's toys on her pink rug under the umbrella, putting a hat and sunscreen on her.

"What?" Jo asked, setting Lacey down and watching as she crawled straight to her dinosaur.

"You're such a mom," Camille teased as Jo took the dinosaur out of Lacey's hands as she tried to put it into her mouth.

"No, honey, you can't eat your dinosaur, we'll have lunch soon." Jo said gently "What are you talking about?" she asked Camille.

"You're such a mom," Camille repeated, and Jo blushed; she wasn't good with kids; they were frustrating and annoying, but there was something about your own children that was an exception; something that clicked within her, the motherly instinct, Kendall called it. Jo had to admit, she had been scared when she heard Lacey was coming along, she had been downright terrified the first night Lacey had come home; she was absolutely certain she'd make a mistake, and that it would be a life or death mistake. She was only 18, she didn't know how to take care of a baby! But as soon as she had her daughter in her arms, she somehow knew exactly what to do, it was automatic. She brushed Lacey's hair from her eyes and putting her floral hat on.

"Look at you!" Stephanie chuckled, "what's it been? Just over a year, and you look like you've been doing this forever!" Lucy nodded in agreement as Jo pulled out the sunscreen and put some onto her hand.

"It's weird," Jo admitted "I didn't think I'd be able to do it, but it just kinda happens, you know?"

"No," Lucy said, smirking, Jo rolled her eyes as she rubbed sunscreen onto Lacey's arms.

The boys returned ten minutes later, carrying boxes full of hamburgers and chips, and before long everyone was finished eating, with the exception of Jo and Kendall, who were still chopping up patties and chips into tiny pieces with plastic cutlery and feeding it to Lacey, their own food untouched.

"Hurry up you two," Logan smirked "or Carlos'll have it,"

"I will not!" Carlos pouted as Kendall placed another bite of chip into Lacey's mouth, and the little girl chewed it, smiling as her father handed her the fork.

"Now, you try," he Kendall said as Jo cut more food. Lacey lifted the fork, placing the food in her mouth and chewing happily, watching her mother stab the food with the fork and doing the same.

"Look at her!" Kendall said excitedly as Jo gasped "Guys, look! She's feeding herself! She's doing it all on her own!" he couldn't help but be excited about his little girl's small achievement, and Lacey smiled proudly at her father, holding the fork and waving it around excitedly, almost hitting Carlos with a chunk of flying hamburger as she did so.

"That's great, man," Carlos said, dodging the flying food as the girls cooed over Lacey. "But you really should eat something," he pointed out, and Kendall rolled his eyes, taking a quick bite of his hamburger and then turning to watch Lacey eat.

After an hour, the girls were sitting under the umbrellas on the picnic rugs, James, Carlos and Logan were having a water fight in the ocean, and Kendall was playing with Lacey, watching as she splashed her hands in the shallow moat that Kendall had dug.

"Watch out for sea monsters little girl!" Kendall called, sneaking up behind Lacey, and grabbing her around the waist, making her shriek and giggle.

"Daddy!" she cried, laughing as Kendall held her up in the air, and she kicked her legs.

"He's so great with her," Camille told Jo as they watched Kendall tickle Lacey, and she shrieked with laughter.

"Yeah," Jo smiled; she had to admit, she had been terrified when she first found out about Lacey, terrified of telling Kendall. Sure, she knew him like the back of her hand, and she knew he'd still love her no matter what, but she also knew he was strong headed and passionate, and she couldn't help the worry that had fluttered around her stomach the day she had told him; that his fear of their young age would get the better of him, or that he just wouldn't be able to take it. Jo remembered that she'd considered getting an abortion before telling him. She shuddered at the thought; she couldn't ever imagine life without Lacey any more. Kendall would never have smiled like he was now, and he wouldn't ever have been as happy. Jo let a smile of her own touch her lips as she watched Kendall play with Lacey.

"What're you thinking about?" Stephanie nudged Jo's elbow playfully.

"Just about what life would have been like if I hadn't had Lacey, " Jo admitted "or if I'd gotten—"

"Don't day it," Kendall said, looking up "don't even think it."

"Nosy," Jo smirked, but Kendall was deadly serious as he wrapped Lacey up in her towel and clutched her to him protectively, as if he was afraid someone would take her from him then and there "I was just saying that –"

"I wouldn't have let you," Kendall told her, shaking his head

"You wouldn't have known," Jo replied, "I'd have done it before, and not told you at all,"

"But you didn't," Kendall said, relaxing slightly.

"Exactly, and I never will, so you don't have to worry." Jo said gently "But I'm worried," she paused "about you."

"Me?" Kendall asked, looking at the other girls, who nodded in agreement.

"Yeah," Jo sighed "you haven't done anything lately, except work and be with Lacey, you need to spend time with the guys, too. I know you love her, and that's great, don't change that, but your friends need you, too. We've given up so much because of her, don't let your friendship with Carlos, James and Logan be something you lose.

"OK," Kendall relented, handing Lacey over gently and taking off his shirt and singlet "if it meant that much to you." Jo smiled,

"It does," she said, stroking Lacey's hair.

"OK," Kendall said again before heading into the water, promptly receiving a spray of water in the face from James, and returning it just as quickly.

"Not the face, man!" James called, smirking.

"Momma?" Lacey asked, gazing up at her mother.

"Yeah, babe?" Jo replied.

"Me too?" Lacey pointed to her father and the boys, who were having a water fight.

"Sorry, honey," Jo shook her head "it's too deep for you, you wanna build a sandcastle?"

"No," Lacey pouted "Daddy!" she pointed to Kendall again, and Jo sighed, turning to the other girls, who shrugged sympathetically.

"How about if mommy and the girls play in the water with you?"

"Yah!" Lacey said, after serious consideration. Lucy, Camille and Stephanie scowled at Jo as they took of their sun dresses and put on sunscreen.

"Oh, come on," Jo said, putting on her sunglasses and adjusting her bikini straps "you can't resist her face," she pouted, and the other girls shook their heads, following her into the water, They stopped just above ankle height, and kneeled down, Lacey standing right beside her mother and grasping her hand tightly.

"Oh, my—" Stephanie gasped "it's cold!"

"You big baby!" Lucy smirked, sending a jet of water at Stephanie, who shrieked, rubbing at her eyes.

"No!" Lacey cried, doing her best to send a small jet of water at Lucy, which sprayed a few feet in front of her "Stephie!"

"I'll get you for that, little lady!" Lucy smirked as she gently set a jet of water in the little girl's direction, and hitting her square in the face. Lacey stood still for a moment, blinking, before she realized that the salt water was hurting her eyes, and she began to cry and rub at them with her fists.

"I'm so sorry Jo!" Lucy stood up and rushed over as Jo attempted to console Lacey, who had begun screaming "You know I wouldn't mean to—"

"I know," Jo smiled slightly, standing up and clutching Lacey in her arms, carrying her to the sand and putting her on her blanket, using tissues to wipe the screaming girl's eyes as she writhed from her mother's grasp. "Shh, honey, you're gonna be OK. I know it hurts baby, but it's OK, mommy'll make you all better, see?" she wiped her daughter's eyes one more time, and Lacey resigned her cries to little whimpers, just as Kendall came galloping out of the water, the other guys following close behind.

"What happened?" Kendall dropped to his knees beside Jo on the mat, spraying water everywhere "I heard screams!"

"It's alright, Lacey just got a little salt water in her eyes," Jo told him.

"Oh, OK," Kendall patted Lacey's head, and watching as she crawled out of Jo's arms to play with her dinosaur "she's perfect now,"

**A/N: Wow, that was awful, sorry guys, but now I have to leave and go fail my flute exam! -.- but tomorrow's Sunday, so maybe I can get another update on this and my other stories before I leave on Thursday :)**

**Thanks for being so patient, guys, I swear I'll update lots more once I get back from my tour :)**


	26. AN: Another apology and sneak peek!

**A/N: Hey strangers! Oh my gosh, first let me say how sorry I am for not updating, my life has been set into, like, hyperdrive since I last updated, and my brain is in slow motion! :) anyway my sincerest apologies for that, but I will update this weekend, I swear! It's a long weekend so I'll have bags of time!**

**I HAVE ANOTHER STORY IN THE WORKS! :D it's another James one (I swear I have Torture Your Favourite Character Syndrome or something!) anyway the idea came today when I was totally out of it in maths, but that's all I can you'l you right now :)**

**Anyway, I'm gonna give you another Lomille sneak peek, because you guys are so amazing, and haven't chased me with pitchforks and flaming torches :) **

Mrs Knight's heart ached evenmore when Logan didn't laugh, or even smile at her lame joke. She sighed, "Logan, sweetie," she was speaking to him like he was the sixteen year old he had been not so long ago, asking for girl advice, but Mrs Knight didn't care, because that's what he looked like right now; scared and unsure, helpless under her motherly words. "I know it's going to be hard, and it kills me that I can't do anything to make it easier on you both," she sighed again "but right now, Carlos needs you," ...

**A/N: There we go! :D ooh, why does Carlos need Logan? hmmm :) so it's like midnight now, so I'm gonna go to sleep, because my head is spinning :/ until next time, loves! xxx Laura **


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